In 2004, while working at the Ford Foundation, Khamvongsa was approached by John Cavanagh, the executive director of the Institute for Policy Studies and grantee of the Ford Foundation. Cavanagh informed Khamvongsa of the Secret War and gave her a collection of drawings created by survivors of the bombings in Laos. It was through these drawings that Khamvongsa was inspired to found Legacies of War.