Kayla M. Williams

Biography

Kayla Williams is a project associate at RAND and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research has included work on counterinsurgency, detention operations, building partner capacity, intelligence, veterans' health needs and education benefits, and economic assistance during stability operations. Williams served in the U.S. Army for 5 years as an Arabic Linguist, including a year in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). Prior to coming to RAND, she worked for McNeil Technologies at the National Media Exploitation Center. Williams graduated cum laude with a BA in English literature from Bowling Green State University, and earned her masters in international affairs with a focus on the Middle East at American University. She is the author of Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the US Army, a book about her experiences as a soldier. Williams is a member of the Army Education Advisory Committee, a fellow at the Truman National Security Project, and a former member of the VA Advisory Committee on Women Veterans.