GSSR Special Issue: What the New Administration Needs to Know About Terrorism and Counterterrorism

The 122 page report can be downloaded at this link:  http://georgetownsecuritystudiesreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/GSSR-What-the-New-Administration-Needs-to-Know-About-Terrorism-and-Counterterrorism.pdf  The video for the conference is at this link: https://www.youtube.com/user/GUSecurityStudies

GSSR Special Issue: What the New Administration Needs to Know About Terrorism and Counterterrorism

 Feb 24, 2017  GSSR  Europe, Intelligence, International Security, Middle East, Special Issues, Terrorism, The Review, US National Security  0

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The Georgetown Security Studies Review is very proud to present a new special issue: “What the New Administration Needs to Know About Terrorism and Counterterrorism”. This issue contains articles and remarks from some of the world’s eminent scholars of terrorism and counterterrorism, who gathered at Georgetown University on 26-27 January, 2017 for a conference jointly hosted by Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies and the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence of the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

The special issue is available for download here.

The GSSR would like to graciously thank all who made contributions to this important special issue!

Please direct all inquiries regarding this issue to the Georgetown Security Studies Review Editor-in-Chief at GSSR@georgetown.edu.

Video of The Future Of Terrorism: Georgetown & St. Andrews University Conference

I strongly recommend viewing these videos in particular the remarks and discussions in Panel by Sir David Veness about the future of terrorist threats, Christine Fair about terrorism and Pakistan, and Bruce Hoffman on the future strategies of AQ and ISIS.  

Second, I strongly recommend the intelligence discussion and exchange about torture between Elizabeth Arsenault and John Mclaughlin in Panel 3.  The exchange between these two is probably one of the most informed discussions of terrorism since 9-11. While all the panels are excellent the two I have mentioned are very much worth your time to watch.

Panel 1: https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/1l8d1iu5mlfxglzz9kly5fssdaeynty0

Panel 2: https://georgetown.box.com/s/ax414gzhgxgwhimrorhe4suijqrlnaeq

Panel 3: https://georgetown.box.com/s/ln7tmnb3f6w39tu2kt1cqcqeiobecd0m

Panel 4: https://georgetown.box.com/s/a28ya2wo48jtqkj8u9l3htxqsb43nitr

This two-day conference, jointly sponsored by the HCSTPV at St Andrews University, Scotland and the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University, examined current and future trends in international and domestic terrorism with particular reference to the international and domestic security environment in the aftermath of the November attacks in Paris and San Bernadino shootings in December. The conference analyzed the potential second and third order effects of both the rise of ISIS and a resilient al Qaeda and their respective affiliates and franchise as well the continuing challenges involved in international cooperation and intelligence sharing; the intelligence of counterterrorism at a time of dynamic, diffuse and highly fluid threats; and, the future of terrorism of studies both in light of these developments and as a field of academic inquiry and relevance.

PANEL I: CURRENT AND FUTURE THREATS

Sir David Veness, Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence,
     St Andrews University, Scotland
Christine Fair, Center for Security Studies, Georgetown University
Bruce Hoffman, Center for Security Studies, Georgetown University

Moderator: Richard English, Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence,
     St Andrews University, Scotland

Click here to watch Panel I

PANEL II: INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION & INTELLIGENCE SHARING 

Bernhard Blumenau, Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence,
     St Andrews University, Scotland
Laura Donohue, Georgetown University Law Center
Bruce Riedel, Brookings Institution

Moderator: Col. David Maxwell

Click here to watch Panel II 

PANEL III: INTELLIGENCE AND COUNTERTERRORISM 

Elizabeth Arsenault, Center for Security Studies, Georgetown University
John McLaughlin, Johns Hopkins, SAIS; former Acting DCIA/former DDCIA)
Truls Tonnessen, FFI, Norway; and, Center for Security Studies, Georgetown University

Moderator: Sir David Veness, Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence,
     St Andrews University, Scotland

Click here to watch Panel III

PANEL IV: THE FUTURE OF TERRORISM STUDIES  

Richard English, Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence,
     St Andrews University, Scotland
Gary LaFree, Director, START, University of Maryland
Arie Perliger, Director of Terrorism Studies, Combating Terrorism Center,
     US Military Academy

Moderator: Bruce Hoffman, Center for Security Studies, Georgetown University

Click here to watch Panel IV

The Best International Relations Master’s Programs

http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/01/03/the-best-international-relations-masters-programs/

The top 10 programs for those looking to run the world.

These rankings are part of the Teaching, Research, and International Policy (TRIP) survey, conducted by Paul C. Avey, Michael C. Desch, James D. Long, Daniel Maliniak, Susan Peterson, and Michael J. Tierney. All additional information provided was added by Foreign Policy and is not part of the survey results.

1. Georgetown University

Program size: 500-600 
Program cost: $41,056/year
Star professors: Madeleine Albright, Daniel Byman, Victor Cha, Charles Hagel, Paul Pillar

Georgetown offers a variety of master’s programs within the IR field, including an M.S. in foreign service and a program in security studies. The extremely selective School of Foreign Service offers a two-year program in which course work is supplemented by mentorship from IR professionals; notables in the past have included former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former USAID Director Andrew Natsios (a Georgetown alum).

Website: http://sfs.georgetown.edu/

2. Johns Hopkins University

Program size: 600
Program cost: $36,962/ year
Star professors: Zbigniew Brzezinski, David Lampton, Michael Mandelbaum

Johns Hopkins offers an M.A. from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, an interdisciplinary program that allows students to concentrate on a particular area of the field, such as international development, or a particular geographic region, such as African Studies. The two-year program also emphasizes language skills, offering courses in 16 languages.

Website: http://www.sais-jhu.edu

3. Harvard University

Program Size: 568
Program Cost: $43,212/year
Star Professors: Joseph S. Nye, Richard Clarke, Stephen M. Walt

The highly selective master of public policy program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government includes an option for a concentration in international and global affairs, geared specifically toward students seeking to join the ranks of international policy wonks. The all-star faculty list includes multiple former presidential advisors.

Website: http://www.hks.harvard.edu

(Continued at the link below)

http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/01/03/the-best-international-relations-masters-programs/

Security studies master’s programs prep grads to defend national security

Claire was a great student in our program and one of eight from our program to be selected as a Presidential Management Fellow. I also had the pleasure of having her as  student in my class.

Security studies master’s 

programs prep grads to 

defend national security

http://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2014/09/22/security-studies-masters-programs

-prep-grads-to-defend-national-security/

By Beth Marlowe September 22 at 12:00 PM  

Claire McCleskey enrolled in Georgetown’s Center for Security Studies Program after she finished college. She graduated in May and has been appointed a Presidential Management Fellow. (Jason Hornick/For Express)

As an undergrad at Georgetown, Claire McCleskey majored in security studies, a field that covers threats to national security like terrorism, weapons proliferation and international crime. When senior year came around, McCleskey knew she wasn’t quite done.

In the fall of her senior year, she took a class on terrorism, she says, “and I realized, ‘Wow, I love this, I want more of this.’ ”

So McCleskey, now 24, enrolled in Georgetown’s Center for Security Studies Program for a master’s degree, hoping to one day go into federal law enforcement.

The move was practical, she says. “The reality of the job market in D.C. was that if you didn’t have a master’s you didn’t have a lot of options,” McCleskey says.

Joanna Spear, director of the Security Policy Studies master’s program at George Washington University, says the job market is still tough for students who don’t have a master’s.

“We get people who have been out working for a number of years,” Spear says. “And then increasingly we’re also getting a community who are coming straight from undergraduate, because those entry-level jobs aren’t there anymore.”

Spear says the GW program is aimed at giving students skills to be competitive in the job market. For example, in addition to required classes in international security politics, defense policy and program analysis, students take economics and either a language course or quantitative analysis course, “because we’re in the era of Big Data now,” she says.

Past GW security studies students have gotten jobs at think tanks, nonprofits or in the government, including agencies like the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

But, Spear says, the sequestration and shrinking federal budgets that caused the dearth of entry-level jobs are also prompting security professionals to look to new fields.

“I’m certainly thinking more about the private sector and what type of satisfying security careers you could have using the same skills,” Spear says.

To prepare students for the job market, many security studies programs in the D.C. area are set up so students can work or intern while taking classes. Most have classes on evenings and weekends. It typically takes between two and three years to complete the programs.

“I wanted it to be, ‘During the day I’m working and tonight I’m going to class,’ ” McCleskey says. “Which is what SSP students do.”

McCleskey, who graduated in May and found an appointment as aPresidential Management Fellow, says during school Georgetown helped her land an internship in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In fact, it was one of her professors who suggested she apply.

“Sometimes you think a master’s is going to be a magic bullet, and someone is going to hand you a job, which is not at all what happens,” McCleskey says. “But someone saying, ‘Hey, you should try this,’ is half the battle.”

McCleskey says her professors’ knowledge of the industry — which many still work in — has been an asset to the program.

“There are professors that are so approachable and want to get beers with you,” she says. “And then you learn that they had some really, really fancy job, and if you knew them in the workplace you wouldn’t be calling them by their first name.”

(Continued at the link below)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2014/09/22/security-studies-masters-programs

-prep-grads-to-defend-national-security/

We hosted the conference below on June 11 in co-sponsorship between our Center for Security Studies and Security Studies Program and the CIA.  At the link below you can view all four panels as well as the opening remarks by former FBI Director Mueller and the keynote address by CIA Director Brennan.  

Access the videos here:  http://www.georgetown.edu/news/cia-conference-2014.html

CIA DIRECTOR SPEAKS AT AGENCY'S FIRST PUBLIC NATIONAL SECURITY CONFERENCE

http://www.georgetown.edu/news/cia-conference-2014.html

JUNE 12, 2014 – THE 67-YEAR-OLD Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is facing historic challenges that affect national security and the transparency of intelligence collection, the agency’s director said at Georgetown yesterday.

“Today – and certainly not for the first time in our history – America’s intelligence community is at a crossroads,” said CIA director John O. Brennan at the agency’s first public national security conference. “The transformational impact of technology and enhanced scrutiny and skepticism of the value, legality and appropriateness of our mission have prompted a reexamination of the work of intelligence agencies, understandably and rightly so.”

The all-day conference in Georgetown’s historic Gaston Hall, “Ethos and Profession of Intelligence,” was co-sponsored by the university’s Security Studies Program.

NO CRYSTAL BALL

“While we do not have a crystal ball, we have an obligation as intelligence professionals to look beyond the next horizon to not only highlight key events around the globe, but to explain the forces that are likely to shape those developments in the weeks, months and years to come,” said CIA director John O. Brennan.

A host of panelists at the conference explored a number of topics, including the status of intelligence work in the 21st century, intelligence and the private sector, cybersecurity threats and the balance between secrecy and transparency.

Citing global issues such as the rise of extremism, territorial disputes and cyber attacks, Brennan said identifying and analyzing information before an event occurs is the CIA’s priority.

“While we do not have a crystal ball, we have an obligation as intelligence professionals to look beyond the next horizon to not only highlight key events around the globe, but to explain the forces that are likely to shape those developments in the weeks, months and years to come,” he said.

PREVENTING ATTACKS

Former FBI director Robert Mueller, who delivered the conference's opening remarks, just completed a year as Georgetown's first distinguished executive-in-residence.

Former FBI director Robert Mueller delivered the conference’s introductory remarks.

Mueller, who began his tenure as FBI director one week before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, detailed how the FBI transitioned its priorities to counterterrorism and counterintelligence during the start of his 12-year tenure.

“No longer could our metric [for success] be the number of arrests, the number of indictments, the number of convictions, but how well we were doing developing sources, putting up wires [and] answering that one question: what are you doing to prevent the next terrorist attack,” said Mueller, who just completed a year as Georgetown’s first distinguished executive-in-residence.

NO BETTER INSTITUTION

Conference panelists and moderators included U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Michigan), chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; Bruce Hoffman, professor and director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown; Siobahn Gorman, reporter for The Wall Street Journal; John Negroponte, former U.S. deputy Secretary of State and former ambassador to Iraq; and Paul Pillar, security studies faculty member and author of such books as Intelligence and U.S. Foreign Policy: Iraq, 9/11, and Misguided Reform (Columbia University Press, 2011).

Brennan thanked Georgetown for hosting the conference.

“There’s simply no institution better suited to host a discussion of the topics we are tackling today,” he said. “It is a privilege for me to be among the students and faculty of this great school.”

RELATED INFORMATION

• Robert Mueller Profile
• Bruce Hoffman Profile

• Security Studies Program

• Center for Security Studies
• School of Foreign Service