With authoritarianism on the rise, the nation and the world confront what it means to maintain a healthy democracy.
Save the date to join Asha Rangappa, Senior Lecturer at Yale and former FBI special agent, as we discuss fascism, democracy, and the rule of law.
Details
Tuesday, April 21, 2026 | 5:30pm – 7:00pm
Studio A, World Affairs Council | 1049 Asylum Ave, Hartford
Tickets: $28 General Admission | $18 Member Admission
With Special Guest
Asha Rangappa is a Senior Lecturer at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and a former Associate Dean at Yale Law School.
Prior to her current position, Asha served as a Special Agent in the New York Division of the FBI, specializing in counterintelligence investigations. Her work involved assessing threats to national security, conducting classified investigations on suspected foreign agents and performing undercover work. While in the FBI, Asha gained experience in electronic surveillance, interview and interrogation techniques, firearms and the use of deadly force. She has taught National Security Law and related courses at Yale University, Wesleyan University, and University of New Haven.
Asha graduated cum laude from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study constitutional reform in Bogotá, Colombia. She received her law degree from Yale Law School and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Juan R. Torruella on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is admitted to the State Bar of New York (2003) and Connecticut (2003).
Asha has published op-eds in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post among others, and has been a legal and national security analyst for CNN, as well as appearing on NPR, BBC, and several other major television networks. She is currently a legal contributor for ABC News, an editor for Just Security, and a contributor for former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s legal newsletter, CAFE Insider. Asha is a life member of the Council of Foreign Relations, a fellow with the International Career Advancement Program (ICAP), and a security fellow with the Truman National Security Project.
Asha lives in Hamden, Connecticut with her two children.
Join the Community
With continuous breaking global news, Council membership allows you to understand it all. Members gain lower-cost and exclusive access to discussions with foreign and local leaders, events with experts and opposing views, and – most essentially – a community of engaged people like yourself.
Become a member or renew today.
Mission Partners
Support global engagement in Connecticut by contacting CEO Megan Torrey about sponsorship opportunities. Learn more on our website about available opportunities.
The World Affairs Council of Connecticut provides a platform for open dialogue and the exchange of ideas on global issues. The views expressed by speakers and contributors to this organization’s public programs—in person, online, and through affiliated social media sites— are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the official policies or positions of CTWAC, its individual staff, board members, members, or sponsors. As a nonpartisan and nonpolitical organization, CTWAC’s purpose is to foster informed discussion and greater understanding of the world, without endorsing any particular viewpoint.
