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Speaker Bio:
Rita Katz, the Director and co-founder of the SITE Intelligence Group, has studied,
tracked, and analyzed international terrorists and their financial operations for several years. Since well before September 11, 2001, she has personally briefed government
officials, including former terrorism czar Richard Clarke and his staff in the White
House, as well as investigators in the Department of Justice, Department of the Treasury,
and the Department of Homeland Security on the financing and recruitment networks of
the terrorist movement. Many of her leads have prompted the government to investigate
and take legal action against individuals and organizations suspected of ties to terrorism.
Born in Iraq, and a graduate of the Middle Eastern Studies program at Tel Aviv University, Katz speaks both Arabic and Hebrew with native fluency. As part of her work
and at great risk to herself, Mrs. Katz, a mother of four, has gone undercover to numerous
terrorist front group gatherings, collecting crucial information from within the radical
groups, and working to expose those groups in the United States. Several of the findings
in her research and undercover activities that she provided as leads to government
agencies have proven particularly fruitful.
Ms. Katz has served as a consultant to the U.S. government on many occasions and
appeared as an expert witness for the U.S. government. She has testified before both the
House Armed Services Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee,
discussing terrorists' use of the internet.
For her unique contributions to FBI counterterrorism investigations, Ms. Katz received a special recognition from FBI Director Robert Mueller, recognizing her “outstanding assistance to the FBI in connection with its investigative efforts.”
Ms. Katz is the author of TERRORIST HUNTER: The Extraordinary Story of a Woman who Went Undercover to Infiltrate the Radical Islamic Groups Operating in America
(HarperCollins, 2003). Her commentary on terrorism issues frequently appears in
prominent media outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, 60
Minutes, and elsewhere.
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