Cynthia Cook is a U.S. Foreign Service Officer.  Prior to her service with the Department of State, she served a Senior Consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton assigned to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, where she helped craft strategy for security cooperation.  Cook also served as a policy analyst of cultural intelligence, focusing on North Africa, with Hicks and Associates. Cook spent nearly five years on Capitol Hill, where she worked for both Congressman Tom Udall and Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, serving as Senior Legislative Assistant and Staff Assistant respectively. In 2006 she received her MSc from London's School of Economics and Political Science in Political Sociology and in 2000 received her BS from University of Colorado, Boulder in Media Studies with honors and distinction.