When actress and film producer Katie C’etta sat down to interview me about my trajectory as a writer in the security field, I don’t think she expected me to tell her that my writing career got started thanks to a bunch of speeding tickets I had to pay off as a teenager in Tel Aviv.
All joking aside, I was excited to talk to the Artistic Fuel Foundation about the importance of storytelling in the security community as a tool for communicating the complexities of war, the defense industry, and military affairs. There are very few creatives that wind up in the security ecosystem; as a result, there are very few storytellers who can translate this often overwhelming world from an intimate perspective to the rest of the population.
In short, we need more artists in the security community to show the true nature of conflict and drive home the impact of war to voters and policymakers alike. The contributions of our servicemembers and other security professionals are important to our nation and deserve to be told.
If you also want to hear stories about wild pigs attacking a military post on the border of Lebanon, then I think this podcast episode titled “Why Storytelling Matters in the Security Community” is for you.
Special thanks to filmmaker Mark Maxey for my first invitation ever to speak on a podcast. I hope I did you proud, sir.
* * *
About Jessica Lauren Walton: Jessica is a communications strategist, video producer, and writer in the U.S. defense industry. She has written articles on a range of security and mental health topics and conducted interviews with military leadership, psychologists, journalists, CIA officers, filmmakers, and more. Jessica recently completed her memoir about her experience as an American woman struggling with mental illness while trying to get into Israeli intelligence.
To sign up for the (In)Security Blog newsletter and receive notification of the memoir release, click here.