Laura Blumenfeld comes to GMF’s Washington office as a senior fellow after a long stint at The Washington Post and will be focusing on the Middle East and security. At The Washington Post, Blumenfeld covered presidential politics, the Middle East, national security issues, and contributed to a regular column for the Post’s Federal Page titled "Off Camera: The Private Side of Public Lives." Blumenfeld is a frequent lecturer on counter-terrorism and the Middle East, appearing on Charlie Rose, Good Morning America, Prime Time Live, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, The Today Show, CNN, Fox News, and Oprah.  She is also a New York Times best-selling author for her book, Revenge: A Story of Hope, which has been translated into nine languages. She is currently writing a book set in England and France during World War II.

Blumenfeld earned her bachelor’s degree in English literature from Harvard College and holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University, which she attended as a Mort Zuckerman Future World Leaders Fellow. Upon graduation, Blumenfeld moved to the Palestinian town of Tira to work as a community organizer for Interns for Peace, where she negotiated exchange visits between Palestinian children and their Jewish neighbors.