Insight from the Inside
Friday, September 13 3:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M.
Dissenters of the Biden-Harris Administration discuss their career-changing decisions to leave their positions in the federal government over the U.S. financial and material support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Join Tariq Habash, former policy advisor in the U.S. Department of Education; Harrison Mann, former U.S. Army Major; and Maryam Hassanein, former political appointee in the Department of the Interior, in this captivating conversation with those who have risked all to honor the values.
Tariq Habash most recently served as a political appointee and policy advisor in the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development. Tariq worked to overhaul the broken student loan system, provide relief to millions of borrowers, and address inequities across American higher education. He was the second government official and the first political appointee to publicly resign from the Biden Administration due to its policy on Gaza and unrestricted support for Israel’s aggression against Palestinians.
Before joining the government, Tariq was a co-founder of the Student Borrower Protection Center, a national research and advocacy nonprofit where he led the organization’s investigative work on student loan and consumer finance policies. He also spent years working at The Century Foundation, specializing in higher education affordability, accountability, and consumer protection issues. Tariq holds degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the University of Miami.
Harrison Mann is a former U.S. Army major and executive officer of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Middle East/Africa Regional Center who resigned in protest of his office’s support for Israel during its Gaza campaign. Harrison was the first Jewish U.S. government official and the first from the intelligence community to publicly resign in protest of American complicity in atrocities in Gaza.
He previously served as a Middle East all-source intelligence analyst and led a crisis cell coordinating intelligence support for Ukraine. Before joining the DIA, he worked at the U.S. Embassy Tunis Office of Security Cooperation and led Army Civil Affairs teams combatting regional smuggling under U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) in Bahrain. Harrison began his Army career as an infantry officer. He received a B.A. from the College of William & Mary and a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Maryam Hassanein was previously a Biden-Harris administration political appointee at the Department of the Interior, where she was Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management. Inspired by the student movement, she resigned on July 2, 2024, in opposition to the administration’s handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict and its harmful impact on Palestinians. She is the youngest to resign so far and the first Muslim appointee to do so.
Hassanein was an active supporter of the Biden campaign in 2020; she worked to rally her community to vote for Biden in the battleground state of Arizona. Before joining the administration, Hassanein worked on Capitol Hill in a Democratic member office, managing a diverse portfolio that included environment and energy, religious liberty, and international human rights. Before this, Hassanein worked on political campaigns with various nonprofit advocacy organizations centered on environmentalism, nuclear weapon elimination, and reproductive rights. Hassanein graduated from Arizona State University with a B.S. in Justice Studies and a minor in social welfare.
Rania Batrice is a first-generation Palestinian-American and a renowned political strategist, activist, and advocate for social justice. Over her nearly two-decade career as a Democratic strategist, she has played pivotal roles in progressive movements across the United States, including serving as Deputy Campaign Manager for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign. Batrice’s expertise spans political strategy, legislative work, crisis management, and communications, with a focus on intersectional collaboration that brings together diverse voices to create meaningful change.
Batrice has addressed global issues like climate change at the Social Good Summit, the UN Youth Climate Summit, and the UN General Assembly. Her commitment to amplifying marginalized voices has made her a sought-after leader in movements for women’s rights, immigration reform, and foreign policy. Batrice has inspired countless young people to engage in activism and has lent her expertise to visionary projects like the Freedom Project and Planned Parenthood. Her work has been recognized with numerous accolades, including the “Exceptional Women of Excellence” award from the World Economic Forum and the “Woman of Purpose” award from the Purpose Project.
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