Tag: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)

In the latest episode of “The General and the Ambassador: A Conversation” podcast host Ambassador (Ret.) Deborah McCarthy discusses the front lines in Syria with Ambassador William Roebuck and Brigadier General Jasper Jeffers. Together, they examine how the U.S. diplomatic team in northeastern Syria was embedded and partnered with U.S. Special Forces, and the pushback […]

Featured article: New Foreign Policy Capability by Robert D. Payne III On September 5, 2017 Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, in an attempt to achieve positive effects in the strategic narrative of the war there, dropped thousands of leaflets hoping to inspire support for Coalition efforts among the majority ambivalent population. What happened was the exact […]

Featured article: The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Moral and Ethical Obligation of Resettlement or “I’ll Pass on the Poisoned Skittles” by Joel D. Funk What are the relationships between the migration of refugees and conflict? The conventional logic presumes that demographic factors and how they interact with resources are potential causes of conflict. To survive, […]

Featured article: Speak Smartly and Carry a Big Stick: Competing Successfully in the Global Narrative by Brian Anthony, Robert Lyons and Stuart Peebles “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far,” the 26th President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt famously advised. Notwithstanding the wisdom of Teddy Roosevelt, his advice may not […]

Earlier this week, Mark Swayne spoke before the House Armed Services subcommittee on the Department of Defense’s (DoD) role in defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Swayne is the acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for stability and humanitarian affairs in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict. In […]

On July 19, the State Department released the 2016 Country Reports on Terrorism. The annual Country Reports on Terrorism provide policy-related assessments and country-by-country breakdowns of foreign government counterterrorism cooperation, and contain information on state sponsors of terrorism, terrorist safe havens, foreign terrorist organizations, and the global challenge of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear terrorism. The […]

Featured article: Disrupting the Foreign Fighter Flow: Interdiction and Prosecution by Jan Schwarzenberg U.S. persons traveling to other lands to become foreign fighters are a threat to domestic security in the U.S. Numerous reports over the past decade note the presence of foreign fighters arriving in conflict areas such as Iraq and Syria to take part in […]

Featured article: Plutonium and Picasso – A Typology of Nuclear and Fine Art Smuggling by Joshua D. Foss The global security environment continues to evolve. Globalization, advances in technology, and greater connectedness of people and economies have enabled transnational organized crime and new and existing illicit markets to expand. Never has the prolific and rapid dissemination of technology and information […]

Last week, the House Financial Services Committee’s Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing released a bipartisan report of its 12 month long probe into the threat terror financing poses to the U.S. financial system. The task force’s report focuses on financial crimes that support terrorist acts or organizations. According to the report, terrorist financiers present a real […]