The GTTAC Speaker Series

Raffaello Pantucci is a Senior Fellow at the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS). His research there focuses on Central Asia as well as managing a broad ranging team looking at Global Emergent Threats. He is a widely published author in the academic and public press, and he has advised governments in Europe, North America and Asia on counter-terrorism strategies.

Ahmad Shah Mohibi is the Founder of Rise to Peace and former US-Counter-Terrorism Adviser in Afghanistan. Frequently provides news analysis and commentary to media outlets, including the Washington Post, CNN, CBS News, MSNBC, NBC News, CNBC, Business Insider, FOX News, TRT World, Aljazeera, Washington Examiner, The Washington Post, Ariana News, The Diplomat Magazine, and Tolo News.

Anne Speckhard, Ph.D., is Director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE) and serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine. She has interviewed over 700 terrorists, violent extremists, their family members, and supporters in various parts of the world including in Western Europe, the Balkans, Central Asia, the Former Soviet Union, and the Middle East.

Jacob Zenn is an adjunct professor on African Armed Movements and Violent Non-State Actors in World Politics at the Georgetown University Security Studies Program (SSP) and a fellow on African and Eurasian Affairs for The Jamestown Foundation in Washington DC. He wrote the book, Unmasking Boko Haram: Exploring Global Jihad in Nigeria, which was published in April 2020 by Lynne Rienner in association with the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, University of St Andrews. Zenn has also written on international law and security for Jamestown’s Foundation’s Terrorism Monitor, Militant Leadership Monitor, and Eurasia Daily Monitor; Jane’s Intelligence Review-China Watch; the Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst; and for academic journals.

Jaideep Saikia’s presentation [Approximately: 20 Minutes] will discuss insurgency and terrorism in North-East of India with active cross-border linkages with China, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. This will be followed by a 20 minute Q&A session open to audience participation.

Jaideep Saikia is a Terrorism and Conflict Analyst and a Fellow, Irregular Warfare Initiative Fellow, West Point USA. He is also the author of several books on security and strategy and has served the Governments of India and Assam in security advisory capacities including in the National Security Council Secretariat of India as an Expert on North East India. He was a member of the Indian delegation for the “Track II Dialogue” with Bangladesh, China, and Myanmar. Jaideep Saikia’s domain expertise includes a) Insurgency in the North-East b) Islamist Terrorism c) Bangladesh d) India-China Boundary [Eastern Sector] e) Counter Radicalisation f) “India’s National Security Doctrine” and g) Peace-Building with Belligerent Groups.

Dr. Asfandyar Mir is a Senior Expert at the United States Institute of Peace. Previously, he was a lecturer in the political science department at Stanford University. He also held fellowships at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation. His research interests include the international relations of South Asia, U.S. counterterrorism policy and political violence, and social media politics — with a regional focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mir’s research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals, such as International Security, International Studies Quarterly and Security Studies. He received his PhD in political science from the University of Chicago and a master’s and bachelor’s from Stanford University.

Mina al-Lami heads the jihadist media monitoring team a BBC Monitoring. She’s a native Arabic speaker with 15 years of experience closely tracking the militant and media activities of jihadist groups and their use of online platforms and technology. Mina has written extensively on jihadist developments and messaging and regularly appears on TV, radio and at international events.

The Taliban’s return to power in August not only dominated news room discussions and international headlines, but gripped the jihadist community, most of whom saw it as a victory for jihad and a model to be emulated elsewhere. But jihadists aren’t one big happy family and from the outset questions and concerns were raised, particular by hardliners, about the Taliban’s pragmatic approach and whether or not jihadists could support it. Another key question that remains unanswered is the exact nature of the relationship between al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and whether jihadists will find a safe haven in today’s Afghanistan. Islamic State group (IS), the black sheep of the jihadist community, has further complicated matters by waging war against the Taliban and asking the awkward questions about the Afghan group’s political and diplomatic moves that other jihadists don’t dare to ask.ews.

Wesley S. McCann is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society. He has published numerous articles dealing with terrorism, immigration, and criminal law and courts, and is the author of National Security and Policy in America: Immigrants, Crime, and the Securitization of the Border (Routledge, 2020) as well as recent publications on CBRN Terrorism in leading terrorism journals.

An expert on extremism, preventing/countering violent extremism (P/CVE), and criminal law, he is currently researching why non-state actors pursue chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons; whether military intervention influences the tactics and weapons terrorist groups pursue and use; the impact of the Department of Homeland Security’s 287(g) program on local crime; and the correlates of anti-immigrant sentiment. He is also leading a research team on state judicial selection requirements and processes to inform federal judicial reform efforts.

Dr. Daisy Muibu is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Her research is focused on policing and counterinsurgency from a variety of perspectives that include: police legitimacy and local law enforcement responses to terrorism; citizens perceptions towards formal, private and informal policing and paramilitary forces; and the role of foreign fighters within insurgent groups.  Daisy was also Peace and Violence Research Fellow at AU’s School of Public Affairs department and a recipient of various research grants, such as the United Nations Initiative on Peace and Reconciliation in Somalia grant, the Association for the Study of The Middle East and Africa, and the American University Doctoral Student Research Scholarship.  Dr. Muibu also has years of experience working on rule of law and criminal justice reform, as well as counterterrorism in regions of Kenya and southern Somalia.

Mr. Asal spoke on the quantitative analytical perspective on tracking political violence and terrorism.  Victor Asal (Ph.D. University of Maryland, 2003) is Director of the Center for Policy Research and a Professor of Political Science at the University at Albany. He is affiliated with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), a DHS Center of Excellence. His research focuses on nonstate actor violence and the causes of political discrimination particularly related to ethnicity and gender. He also researches nuclear crisis behavior and pedagogy. Asal has been involved in research projects funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, The Department of Homeland Security, The National Science Foundation, The Office of Naval Research, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Mr. Travers took office as the Acting Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) in August 2019. He also has held other leadership positions within NCTC since 2015, including Senior Counselor to the Director, Acting Director of the Office of Data Strategy and Innovation, and Chief Data Officer for both NCTC and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

From 2013 to 2015, Mr. Travers served as the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Transnational Threat Integration and Information Sharing on the National Security Council. He has also served tours as Deputy Director for Policy Support at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Officer for General Purpose Forces, and the Senior Civilian Advisor to the Director for Intelligence, J2, Joint Chiefs.

Dr. Gartenstein–Ross is a scholar, practitioner, author of more than 25 books and monographs, and entrepreneur who is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Valens Global. The International Herald Tribune has described him as “a rising star in the counterterrorism community.” In 2019, he led Valens Global’s efforts to support the drafting, threat assessment, and crafting of priority actions for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Strategic Framework for Countering Terrorism and Targeted Violence, which was released in September 2019 and has subsequently guided DHS’s approach to confronting terrorism and other forms of sub-state violence. That document has received widespread acclaim, with the New York Times editorializing that the document “focuses unapologetically on right-wing terrorism, particularly white supremacist extremism,” which constitutes “a shift that is both urgently needed and long overdue.”

Dr. Speckhard is Director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism and serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University’s School of Medicine. She has interviewed more than 700 terrorists, their family members, and supporters in various parts of the world, including Western Europe, the Balkans, Central Asia, the former Soviet Union, and the Middle East. In the past five years, she has conducted in-depth psychological interviews of more than 250 ISIS defectors, returnees, and prisoners as well as 16 al-Shabaab cadres. From these interviews, she has developed the Breaking the ISIS Brand Counter Narrative Project materials, which include more than 200 brief counternarrative videos of terrorists denouncing their groups as un-Islamic, corrupt, and brutal. The video content has been used in more than 150 Facebook and Instagram campaigns globally. 

Dr. Zenn is an adjunct professor on African armed movements and violent nonstate actors in world politics from Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program. He is the author of Unmasking Boko Haram: Exploring Global Jihad in Nigeria, published in April.