Followers of the Houthi demonstrate against the Saudi-led air strikes on Yemen, in Sanaa on April 1, 2015. Photo Credit: Khaled Abdullah Ali Al Mahdi / Reuters By: Tim Cook, Columnist The Houthi movement in Yemen may concede to negotiating a settlement with the Saudi-led coalition due to internal rifts and the Saudi-led coalition’s near … Continue reading Internal Splits In and External Defeats May Bring the Houthis to the Negotiating Table
Category: Terrorism & Transnational Threats
Radicalization in Central Asia: A Thorny and Enduring Problem
A traveler on the M41 road (also called Pamir highway), crossing the Pamir plateau in Tajikistan. Photo Credit: Getty Images By: Christine Bang-Andersen, Columnist The truck attacks in Stockholm and New York in 2017 and the attack on Western tourists on a bike trip across Tajikistan this summer all served as stark reminders of ongoing … Continue reading Radicalization in Central Asia: A Thorny and Enduring Problem
Walter Laqueur, 1921-2018: A Remembrance and Appreciation
Walter Laqueur in 1981. Photo Credit: Fred Sweets/The Washington Post, via Getty Images By: Benjamin Aziza, Columnist According to former SSP Director Bruce Hoffman, the late Georgetown Professor Walter Laqueur once observed that “only pessimists survived the Holocaust. Optimists believed that Hitler could either be controlled or that common sense and decency would somehow eventually prevail.”[i] Laqueur, … Continue reading Walter Laqueur, 1921-2018: A Remembrance and Appreciation
Kids of the Caliphate: How to Resolve the Stateless Status of Children Born Under ISIS
Dawoud Suleiman plays with a doll as his sisters Dawlat, (l) and Omaima, sit with him in their tent at Dakuk Camp, near Kirkuk, Iraq, on April 15, 2018. Their father and other family members belonged to the Islamic State group. Photo Credit: AP By: Alexander Yacoubian, Columnist As ISIS continues to lose territory in … Continue reading Kids of the Caliphate: How to Resolve the Stateless Status of Children Born Under ISIS
Countering Terrorism Online: Can New Public-Private Approaches Turn the Tide?
Anwar al-Awlaki. Photo Credit: New York Times By: Alicia Chavy, Columnist A YouTube search for “Anwar al-Awlaki” returns 40,000 hits.[i] The poster child for the use of the internet to radicalize others online, Awlaki was a master of creating propaganda materials targeted at Western Muslims. By making jihadist materials available in English, Anwar al-Awlaki and … Continue reading Countering Terrorism Online: Can New Public-Private Approaches Turn the Tide?
Getting the Most Out of Drones Requires Coherent Policy
Graffiti in Yemen. Photo Credit: CNN By: Kathryn Long, Columnist During the Obama administration, drone strikes, or the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to attack ground targets, became a crucial tool in US counterterrorism strategy.[i] Unmanned aerial vehicles have been in use since the 1980s, but it was not until shortly after the September 11 … Continue reading Getting the Most Out of Drones Requires Coherent Policy
Think Global, Act Local? Tensions between Regional and International Objectives in the Jihadist Movement
Islamic State fighters in Anbar, Iraq. Photo Credit: London School of Economics, Middle East Centre By Kevin Truitte, Columnist Al-Qaeda emerged in the wake of the Soviet War in Afghanistan with the intention of centralizing support for local Salafi-Jihadist insurgencies. Osama bin Laden and his allies founded the organization as a means to unify global … Continue reading Think Global, Act Local? Tensions between Regional and International Objectives in the Jihadist Movement
The Evolution of Insurgent Identities: Why Terrorist Groups Turn into Criminal Enterprises
Members of the FARC. Photo Credit: Federico Rios for the New York Times By: Yuri Neves, Columnist While the connection between terrorist/insurgent groups and criminal organizations has been extensively discussed and debated,[i] less has been written on the fluidity of these identities. Why terrorist or insurgent groups abandon their political ideologies and simply pursue economic … Continue reading The Evolution of Insurgent Identities: Why Terrorist Groups Turn into Criminal Enterprises
Defining and Combating Right-Wing Terrorism
A package addressed to former CIA director John Brennan is shown beside an explosive device that was sent to CNN's New York office. Photo Credit: ABC News via AP By: Shruthi Rajkumar, Columnist The rise of right-wing extremism in the United States was recently acknowledged by the FBI as a threat on par with jihadist groups.[i] … Continue reading Defining and Combating Right-Wing Terrorism
Wishful Thinking or Legitimate Alternative to Hard Power: Reevaluating CVE
In 2015, former President Barack Obama hosted the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism.Photo Credit: Polarism By: Lee Walter, Columnist In the wake of a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue and a series of pipe bomb mailings to high-profile political figures across the country, the Trump administration decided to cancel all future funding … Continue reading Wishful Thinking or Legitimate Alternative to Hard Power: Reevaluating CVE