Sarah M. Carlson served as a Targeting Analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency's Counterterrorism Center. She specialized in threats and attack plans directed against the U.S. and Europe and completed multiple rotations with the Directorate of Operations. Prior to that, she served as a Counterterrorism Analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency in the Homeland Defense Division and Iraq Branch in the Middle East. She also completed rotations to the National Counterterrorism Center and U.S. Northern Command while with the DIA. Her counterterrorism career focused on groups operating in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. She learned Arabic and traveled extensively through North Africa and the Middle East.

Sarah received dozens of awards for her service, including exceptional performance awards, meritorious unit citations, and warzone-related honors.

Since leaving the CIA, Sarah has continued in public service with local government as an emergency operations manager, where she specializes in all-hazards preparation, disaster response, and alert and warning.