Steven Sarao is a subject matter expert in International and Domestic Terrorism, Drug Policy, Crisis Management, and Police Reform. Sarao is a 22-year veteran of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and has the current rank of Lieutenant Detective commander.

Sarao has been assigned to the Intelligence and Counterterrorism (ICB) since 2018, and is the Unit Commander of the NYPD IB’s Terrorism Interdiction Unit (TIU), a unit focused on international terrorism and homegrown violent extremism with additional focus on state actors.  

Previously, Lieutenant Sarao led the Racially and Ethnically Motivated Extremism Unit (REME), tasked with investigating a broad and complex spectrum of domestic terrorism threat actors and groups.

Lieutenant Sarao is a previous recipient of the New York City Public Service Fellowship at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (HKS).

Lieutenant Sarao is a subject matter expert and instructor for the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR).

Lieutenant Sarao holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from New York University and a Masters of Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.  Sarao has lectured at Harvard, Penn State, nationally on behalf of the NYPD, and at numerous professional conferences internationally.  He is a respected expert in his field.