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In this video, University of Queensland Professor Adrian Cherney and Senior Research Assistant Emma Belton provide a virtual talk on “Profiles of Individual Radicalisation in Australia (PIRA) Dataset: An Introduction to PIRA and an Exploration of Risk and Contextual Factors Linked to Radicalisation in Australia.” Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video are the speaker’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of START, the University of Maryland or the United States government. Please send an email to start-events@umd.edu to receive a link to a recording with closed captions.

In this video, Brandeis University Assistant Professor of English Dr. Dorothy Kim discusses the use of Viking culture and symbols among white supremacists, Eidolon Editor-in-Chief Dr. Donna Zuckerberg explores the use of ancient Greek and Latin texts among online male supremacists, and START Senior Researcher Dr. Elizabeth Yates offers examples of famous violent extremists and how these historical claims are made clear in their writing. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video are the speaker’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of START, the University of Maryland or the United States government. Please send an email to start-events@umd.edu to receive a link to a recording with closed captions.

In this video, George Washington University Program on Extremism Deputy Director Seamus Hughes and Program on Extremism Senior Research Fellow Bennett Clifford provide a virtual talk on their new book “Homegrown: ISIS in America.” How big is the threat posed by American ISIS supporters? How many Americans have joined ISIS and how many want to return to the United States? Compared to participation by Americans in other jihadist groups, the scale of American involvement in jihadist activity today is unprecedented. This book, from one of the leading counter-terror centres, draws on first-hand interviews with former American Islamic State members and law enforcement officials who tracked them, and includes detailed analysis of the court cases against them and their social media presence. Homegrown reveals how and why ISIS was able to radicalize and recruit a new generation of jihadist sympathizers in America. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video are the speaker’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of START, the University of Maryland or the United States government. Please send an email to start-events@umd.edu to receive a link to a recording with closed captions.

In this video, West Point Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) Assistant Professor Dr. Amira Jadoon provides a virtual talk on “Understanding the Rise and Resilience of Islamic State Khorasan in Afghanistan.” Despite significant challenges, in the five years since its emergence, the Islamic State Khorasan (ISK) has managed to successfully embed itself within the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, unleash a wave of terrorism, and endure despite intensive counterterrorism efforts. Between 2015 and 2018, counterterrorism efforts against the group resulted in significant leadership losses, amounting to a total of 548 leaders, including four of its emirs. Yet, the group persists; in 2018, ISK made its mark as one of the top four most lethal groups in the world and continues to threaten Afghanistan's security in 2020.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video are the speaker’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of START, the University of Maryland or the United States government. Please send an email to start-events@umd.edu if you would like to receive a link to a recording with closed captions.

In this video, William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies Assistant Professor Dr. Fabiana Perera provides a virtual talk on “US-Venezuela Defense Relations.” Venezuela is the only country in Latin America that was ever able to purchase F-16s from the United States. The purchase of the aircraft is a clear indicator of the strength of the defense relationship between the two countries in 1980's and 1990's. Since then the relationship has deteriorated considerably, allowing space for extraregional actors to play increasingly important roles in the security and defense sector of one of the region's largest oil producers. This talk will examine the defense relationship between the United States and Venezuela in the period from the Cold War to the present. It will highlight key inflection points in this relationship and challenges to be addressed in the event of a transition to democracy. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video are the speaker’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of START, the University of Maryland or the United States government.

In this video, University of Alabama Assistant Professor Dr. Erin M. Kearns and American University Professor Dr. Joseph K. Young will provide a virtual talk on their new book Tortured Logic: Why Some Americans Support the Use of Torture in Counterterrorism. In Tortured Logic, Erin M. Kearns and Joseph K. Young draw upon a novel series of group experiments to understand how and why the average citizen might come to support the use of torture tech­niques. They find evidence that when torture is depicted as effective in the media, people are more likely to approve of it. Bringing empirical rigor to a fraught topic, Tortured Logic has important implications for understanding public perceptions of counterterrorism strategy. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video are the speaker’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of START, the University of Maryland or the United States government.

In this video, Center for Global Policy (CGP) non-resident fellows Alejandro J. Beutel and Daryl Johnson discuss insights from their recent article “Far-Right Extremist Mobilization Surges During U.S. Unrest.” The talk includes a survey of recent U.S. far-right actor mobilization, findings from the article's open source dataset mapping far-left and far-right presence around the nationwide anti-racism protests, a forecast of future short-term extremist trends before during and immediately after the 2020 U.S. national elections and policy recommendations. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video are the speaker’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of START, the University of Maryland or the United States government. Please send an email to start-events@umd.edu to receive a link to a recording with closed captions.

In this video, Jason Blazakis provides a virtual lecture on “Trump's Deployment of Terrorist Designations: A Look at the IRGC and Russian Imperial Movement.” Jason Blazakis is a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) where he focuses on threat financing, sanctions, violent extremism, and special operations related research.  He is also the Director of MIIS’s Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism where he directs research on domestic terrorism, terrorism finance, recruitment, propaganda, and the use of special operations to counter transnational threats. CTEC provides expert guidance to and reports on the nature of far-right and far-left wing extremism to a world-leading Silicon Valley company as it fends off extremist efforts to abuse its platforms. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video are the speaker’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of START, the University of Maryland or the United States government.

In this video, American University Associate Professor Stephen Tankel provides a virtual lecture on his experiences serving on the majority staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Stephen Tankel is an associate professor at American University and an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. His research focuses on terrorism and counterterrorism, security assistance and cooperation, the use of force, and political and security affairs in South Asia. Dr. Tankel frequently advises U.S. policymakers and members of the Intelligence Community on these issues. He has conducted field research in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Pakistan, Tunisia, and the Balkans. Dr. Tankel has served as a Senior Fellow on the majority staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and as a Senior Advisor at the Department of Defense. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video are the speaker’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of START, the University of Maryland or the United States government.

In this video, GTD Program Manager Dr. Erin Miller provides a virtual lecture exploring the most recent terrorism trends found in the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). The GTD is the most comprehensive unclassified database of terrorist attacks in the world, and the 2020 update includes details of more than 200,000 events that took place worldwide over 50 years, from 1970 to 2019. The GTD research team combines artificial intelligence and analysis by experienced researchers to systematically identify violent events that meet the definition of terrorism and record a wide range of information about each event. The database, which is sourced by news media articles published around the world, includes more than 100 variables documenting the date, location, weapons, tactics, targets, perpetrators, and casualties and outcomes of each attack. You can view the recent report with the 2019 findings at this link. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video are the speaker’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of START, the University of Maryland or the United States government.