Stop. *Record scratch. Freeze frame.*
You may be wondering how this girl:
Ended up here:
Serving my first of three tours in Iraq as a CIA analyst, working to understand terrorist and militia groups that were targeting US forces and Iraqi civilians and plotting against the U.S.
It started on 9/11. One of the big moments that changed my life.
I was 24 years old, and I happened to be in New York City on my second day of grad school. By the time the dust had settled, I knew that I wanted to go into national security and protect my country.
Several months later, the CIA came to campus and my favorite professor encouraged me to hear what they had to say. Not wanting to disappoint him, I went. I applied, got the job, and after a lengthy background check, I started in Langley as an analyst.
It wasn’t long before I found myself in Iraq, my first of three deployments.
Going from the national security world to politics was a major culture shock. For 16 years, I didn’t talk publicly about my work—when I posted on Facebook that I was thinking about running for Congress, people asked me if I’d been hacked. One thing I definitely hadn’t done was ask people for money.
To be upfront: Winning this race is going to take a lot of resources. A crazy amount. When you're running to win a seat in a swing state like Michigan, you can't take anything for granted.
If you've stored your info with ActBlue, we'll process your contribution instantly:
Thank you,
Elissa
PAID FOR BY ELISSA SLOTKIN FOR MICHIGAN
P.O. Box 4145
East Lansing, MI 48826
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Elissa Slotkin served in the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense. Use of her job titles and photographs during service do not imply endorsement by the Central Intelligence Agency OR the Department of Defense.