Rachel Briggs is the former Executive Director of Hostage US, a nonprofit organization that works to ensure that U.S. hostages and their families get the support and guidance they need to survive the challenge of a kidnapping. She has been a writer and policy analyst working on preventing and countering violent extremism and other national security issues with governments and the private sector around the world. She was awarded an OBE (Officer of the British Empire) by Her Majesty the Queen in 2014 in recognition for her services to hostage families and kidnapping victims overseas. She is an advisory committee member for an initiative of Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society to counter youth-oriented hate speech online, an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, and a member of the Risk and Security Management Forum. She was a member of the Advisory Council of Wilton Park, an executive agency of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, from 2006 to 2015 and co-chair of the European Commission’s working group on the role of the internet and social media in tackling radicalization from 2012 to 2014.
