About the Authors

James K. Wither is Professor of National Security Studies at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies (GCMC) where he has been a member of the PTSS faculty since 2008. He is a retired British Army Officer and former researcher in 20^th Century Warfare at the Imperial War Museum. He has published widely on the subject of warfare and terrorism and taught or presented terrorism-related subjects at a wide variety of institutions, including the FBI Academy, the UK Defence Academy, the NATO School, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and the Afghan Army Staff College.

Sam Mullins is Professor of Counter-Terrorism at the GCMC. He is also an Honorary Fellow at the University of Wollongong, Australia and serves on the Editorial Board of Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression and Perspectives on Terrorism. Dr. Mullins holds an MA in Psychology, an MSc (with distinction) in Investigative Psychology and a PhD in the field of Terrorism Studies. He has presented his research for a wide variety of government institutions involved in CT, from the FBI to the Indonesian National Armed Forces and is the author of ‘Home-Grown’ Jihad: Understanding Islamist Terrorism in the US and UK, published by Imperial College Press.

Joseph Airey is a retired Supervisory Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He currently lectures on terrorism at the University of Colorado Denver and has served as an adjunct professor at the GCMC on PTSS and the program on Countering Transnational Organized Crime.

Dina Al Raffie is a Research Fellow with the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. She is also a regular adjunct professor for the GCMC’s PTSS and is currently completing a PhD at the University of Zurich. Al Raffie’s research explores the impact of nonviolent radical Islamist narratives on religious identity in Western diaspora contexts. She studies and has published on a variety of terrorism-related topics including identity dynamics of radicalization, terrorist leadership, terrorist motivations, and countering violent extremism.

Robert Brannon is the Dean of Academics at the College of International and Security Studies, GCMC. Formerly, he was a member of the faculty at the National Defense University’s National War College, where he served for three years as Chairman of the Department of Security Studies and Professor of Strategy. Dr. Brannon is a retired US Navy officer, who specializes in Russian political and military affairs and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). He is a frequent speaker on GCMC programs on the subject of WMD and terrorism and holds a PhD from the Catholic University of America in World Politics and Russian Studies.

Peter Clarke was formerly the Assistant Commissioner, Specialist Operations and Head of the Anti-Terrorist Branch at New Scotland Yard. For nearly six years, he led the investigation into all acts of terrorism in the UK and against British interests overseas, including the London bombings of 2005, the transatlantic airliners liquid bomb plot in 2006, and attacks against British interests in Bali, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. Since he retired from the police service in 2008, he has worked as a highly sought-after independent security consultant. Mr. Clarke has an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Bristol University; he has been a Fellow of the Center on Law and Security at New York University and is a Patron of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College, London.

Adam Dolnik serves as a consultant on Addressing and Preventing Kidnapping for Ransom at the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force. He is also a Counterterrorism Negotiations Advisor to the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit. Dr. Dolnik’s previous appointments include Professor of Terrorism Studies at the University of Wollongong, Australia, Professor of Counterterrorism at the GCMC in Garmisch, Germany and Chief Trainer at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore. Dr. Dolnik is the author of six books and over 50 reports and articles on terrorism related issues.

Dean Dwigans is a retired U.S. Navy Captain (Judge Advocate) and former Professor of International Law at the GCMC. Mr. Dwigans has had multiple assignments in Europe and Asia as a career navy prosecutor and legal advisor, and commanded the navy’s largest overseas prosecution office in the Pacific. His assignments have included senior navy attorney at the National Security Agency, Office of General Counsel, and at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service where he was responsible for advising over 1,500 Special Agents worldwide. Mr. Dwigans has a Juris Doctor from Creighton University and a LLM in international law from Georgetown University.

James Howcroft is currently the Director of the PTSS at the GCMC. Mr. Howcroft retired from active duty as a Colonel after 30 years of service as an Intelligence Officer in the United States Marine Corps. He has taught intelligence collection and analysis to thousands of US, European and African partners engaged in counter-terrorist, counterinsurgency and peace support operations around the world. Mr. Howcroft has written numerous articles on intelligence and operational cultural issues and is a frequent contributor to Small Wars Journal.

Joseph B. King is the Director of Plans and Strategy at the GCMC. He is a Colonel in the US Army, serving as a Eurasian foreign area officer with a background in infantry and special operations. Colonel King served as the director of the PTSS in 2014 and continues to provide occasional lectures on terrorism and irregular warfare in various resident and outreach programs.

Steven R. Monaco is a GCMC professor and the director of the Program on Countering Transnational Organized Crime. Mr. Monaco joined the GCMC in December 2013 after serving as a career Special Agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and as a regional law enforcement adviser for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Mr. Monaco also served as an assistant criminal prosecutor in Baltimore County, MD and as assistant counsel for the DEA.

Iztok Prezelj is an associate professor and Head of the Department of Defence Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. His teaching and research activities cover counter-terrorism, national security, threat and risk assessment, intelligence and crisis management. He has published more than 100 articles, including books and edited volumes on these subjects. He is a member of the European Expert Network on Terrorism Issues and a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Criminal Justice and Security, and Security, Terrorism and Society.

John Sawicki is an assistant professor in political science and director of the Center for International Relations at Duquesne University. He has served numerous times as an adjunct professor on the PTSS and holds a PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Dr. Sawicki teaches national security courses in Political Science and International Relations at Duquesne and lectures in counter-terror finance and religious violence topics at the GCMC, as well as other US embassy and military command venues around the world.

Alex P. Schmid is Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed online journal Perspectives on Terrorism and a Research Fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism in The Hague. He is editor and principal author of the Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research and co-editor of the forthcoming volume Terrorists on Trial (Leiden University Press, 2016). Dr. Schmid’s previous positions include Director of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland and Officer-in-Charge of the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the United Nations in Vienna.

Eric T. Young is a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State and has served in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. From 2011–2015 Dr. Young served as a Professor of National Security Studies at the GCMC during which time he presented his research for a wide variety of government institutions and international conferences. Dr. Young has published frequently in academic journals, writing on African security issues and terrorism.