Amanda Claypool is a Production Assistant and Researcher at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). At CNAS, she is part of the Middle East Security, Strategy and Statecraft, and Studies programs. Claypool recently completed a Boren Scholarship in Irbid, Jordan, where she studied Arabic at Yarmouk University. She completed her undergraduate studies at Syracuse University, earning a BA in International Relations, Political Science and History with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies. Her senior thesis focused on building an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank by looking at the institutional capacity of Palestinian institutions there.