13.07.2010
13:00 - 14:00

Understanding Terror Networks ­ The Turn to Political Violence

The Henry Jackson Society (HJS)
38 Craven Street
WC2N5NG London, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 20 7340 4520
Fax: +44 20 7340 4521

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Conference / Convention

Foreign & Security Policy

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Ryan Kelly
Email: ryan.kelly@henryjacksonsociety.org

Committee Room 8, House of Commons
London

United Kingdom

For decades, a new type of terrorism had been quietly gathering ranks in the world when the West's ability to remain oblivious to these new movements ended on September 11, 2001. The Islamist fanatics in the global Salafi jihad (the violent, revivalist social movement of which al Qaeda is a part) target the West, but their operations mercilessly slaughter thousands of people of all races and religions throughout the world. With the threat of both domestic and trans-national terrorism remaining high despite the enormous and successful efforts of our and other security services to counter it, conventional wisdom about 21st Century terrorism must be constantly re-examined, so as to sharpen the counter terrorism tools used to tackle it. What is clear is that the key to mounting an effective defence against future attacks is a thorough understanding of the networks that enable this new type of terrorism to proliferate in a globalised world. Current strategies to combat jihadi terror are underpinned by traditional assumptions about some of the drivers behind individuals who dream of ‘martyrdom’: poverty, trauma, madness, and exploitation coupled to ignorance. But is this the whole story?

Dr Marc Sageman, Former CIA Operations Officer; Dr Julian Lewis MP, the Henry Jackson Society.