<p>For more than a decade, Dina Temple-Raston has been NPR's go-to correspondent for issues related to national security and counter-terrorism.</p><p>Now she has expanded her repertoire as executive producer and host of the popular <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/what-were-you-thinking/id1317318182…; target="_blank">“What Were You Thinking: Understanding the Adolescent Brain”</a> podcast from Audible. Called “the podcast every parent needs to hear” by the Washington Post and “clever and engaging” by the Guardian newspaper, the new podcast looks to the latest brain science to help explain life-changing adolescent decisions from joining a terrorist group to black-hat hacking to suicide contagion. </p><p>She is the award-winning author of "A Death in Texas,” an exploration of racism in America. It was chosen as one of the Washington Post's Best Books of 2002. Her book "Justice on the Grass," a history of the Rwandan genocide, was a "Foreign Affairs'" magazine best-seller. She has also published two books on civil liberties and national security, "In Defense of Our America" and "The Jihad Next Door.” She is now working on a forthcoming book about the adolescent decision-making process and how brain science can help us teach young people how to make better choices.</p><p>With well-researched, thoughtful and engaging presentations, Temple-Raston is a highly sought-after media speaker and she will enlighten your audience not just on national security issues she’s been following for decades, but now she is also speaking about the latest neuroscience aimed at unlocking the mysteries of adolescence.</p>
Long-time NPR Correspondent, Host and Executive Producer of the “What Were You Thinking” Podcast
<ul><li><strong>What Were You Thinking: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Adolescent Brain</strong></li><li>In her new podcast, available on Audible and iTunes, Dina Temple-Raston interviews teens who have made some life-altering choices with bad consequences. Using the latest neuroscience to illuminate real-life decisions, Temple-Raston will bust myths about the adolescent brain and provide new evidence on how young people can use this knowledge to make better decisions. Her multi-media presentation not only makes brain development accessible but explains how adolescence isn’t just something to get through, but in fact a stage that can be managed for a better future. The first season of the podcast delved into terrorist organizations, hacking, teen suicide contagion, gaming addiction, school shootings, and mindfulness in the classroom</li><li><strong>Understanding the Next Threat</strong></li><li>The so-called Islamic State spent the summer of 2014 sweeping across Syria and Iraq. Is the US in its sights? Temple-Raston looks at how the group recruits and why it is a fundamentally different kind of threat than al-Qaeda and how the Obama administration's strategy to combat the group will fare.</li><li><strong>Homegrown Terrorism</strong></li><li>The top concern among counter-terrorism officials worldwide has been whether young men who have gone to Syria to fight will return home and attack the homeland. Temple-Raston wrote about the homegrown threat back in 2007, in her book about six men from upstate New York who went to join al-Qaeda, "The Jihad Next Door." She has reported extensively on the young men who have picked up arms in Syria and explains why their motivations for fighting are different than young men who join al-Qaeda and the policies the US and Europe can put in place to prevent attacks at home.</li><li><strong>The Role of the Press and National Security Leaks in the Age of Big Data</strong></li><li>From Edward Snowden to privacy concerns to the many uses of Big Data, Temple-Raston looks at how new technology is changing the battle against terrorism and changing the way ordinary Americans think about privacy. Temple-Raston integrates this new emerging field with her long-standing reporting on terrorism.</li></ul>