Flathead grad a counter-terrorism leader

Flathead High School graduate Laura Khor was entering her freshman year at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., when the events of Sept. 11, 2001, rattled the nation and solidified her career path.

Nine years later, she’s nearing the completion of her doctorate after earning a master’s degree in international security studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

She hopes to eventually work for the U.S. government in national security.

“I remember when the planes hit the Twin Towers,” she said. “It was very personal as I had friends and fellow students whose parents were in those towers or in the Pentagon building. 9/11 really changed what I wanted to do with my life.”

In the years since she left the Flathead Valley, Khor has started to become an authority on terrorist deradicalization and disengagement. She’s conducted research in Washington, D.C., Singapore, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and Germany.

She served as an analyst for the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrews from 2005 to 2006, researching and reporting on terrorism and related legislation in Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

More recently, Khor has traveled to Malaysia three times, focusing her research on how counter insurgency and state building operations during the Malaysian Emergency impact current counter-terrorism strategies.

Her research focuses on a program originated from colonial rule. Malaysia’s terrorist disengagement program is among the oldest in the world, she said.

“It has been adapted from the original colonial program of disengaging communists to the present program of disengaging terrorists,” she said.

On Dec. 21, she delivered a lecture on the topic to a room full of academics at Flathead Valley Community College.

“I think the most important aspect of my research in Malaysia centered upon gaining the trust of those I interviewed as they were discussing their sensitive national security issues and policies with me,” Khor said.

Her research on the topic — gathered through interviews with government officials, religious leaders and military officers — led to an invitation to present her findings to the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“That was a very exciting opportunity for me to address them,” she said.

Khor’s academic path has led her to experts in the field of security and counter-insurgency. She’s interviewed former national security adviser Anthony Lake, who served under President Bill Clinton. She’s also reviewed the personal papers of Tan Sri C.C. Too, the former chief of psychological warfare in Malaysia.

Khor said she’s often asked why she chose to pursue a post-graduate education in at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. She was accepted into the prestigious school after earning a bachelor’s degree politics and religion at Mount Holyoke in 2005.

“It’s a simple answer for me,” she said. “It’s the best in the world in the field, and I wanted to learn from the best. When I started my master’s degree in Scotland, we didn’t really have specialized counter-terrorism programs in our universities here in the United States. We just didn’t prioritize it, while other countries had more experience directly with terrorism.”

In about three months, Khor will be the center of an oral examination of her thesis, which she plans to submit at the end of January.

After that, the former Flathead High School cheerleader hopes to have her three case studies on Malaysia, Afghanistan and Somalia published in the form of a book.

Though her travels have taken her across the world, Khor said she relishes the opportunity to return home to the Flathead Valley where she was raised.

“No matter where I travel, nothing beats coming home,” she said. “I am proud to say I am from and grew up in Kalispell, Montana.”

Reporter Eric Schwartz may be reached at 758-4441 or at eschwartz@dailyinterlake.com.