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Course Syllabus Georgetownx TERRORISM AND COUNTERTERRORISM: AN INTRODUCTION SELF-PACED COURSE THROUGH MARCH 24, 2018 Course Syllabus GeorgetownX Self-Paced Course through March 24, 2018 GeorgetownX: Terrorism and Counterterrorism: An Introduction SELF-PACED COURSE THROUGH MARCH 24, 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS Core Faculty ............................................................................................................................................................ 2 Interviews ............................................................................................................................................................... 3 Faculty Support Team ............................................................................................................................................ 3 What is the course about? ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Key Questions .................................................................................................................................................... 4 What does the course include? .............................................................................................................................. 4 Course Section Outline ...................................................................................................................................... 5 What will I learn in the course? .............................................................................................................................. 6 What should we expect from each other? ............................................................................................................. 6 What you can Expect from Professor Byman and the course team .................................................................. 6 What you can expect from edX .......................................................................................................................... 6 What we expect from you ................................................................................................................................. 6 Appendix A: Detailed Course Section Outline ........................................................................................................ 9 1. What is Terrorism and Who are the Terrorists? + Strategies, Tactics, and Technology Use ...................... 9 2. Al-Qaeda ................................................................................................................................................... 10 3. The Islamic State ....................................................................................................................................... 10 4. Intelligence and Counterterrorism Instruments ....................................................................................... 12 1 of 13 GeorgetownX: Terrorism and Counterterrorism: An Introduction SELF-PACED COURSE THROUGH MARCH 24, 2018 TERRORISM AND COUNTERTERRORISM What is the danger of terrorism, and how can the world respond effectively? NOTE: The course will be available through March 24, 2018. No certificates will be issued for work completed after March 24, 2018. CORE FACULTY • Daniel L. Byman Dr. Byman is a Professor in the Security Studies Program of the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and the Research Director of the Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy. Dr. Byman served as a Professional Staff Member with the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States (the “9/11 Commission”) and the Joint 9/11 Inquiry Staff of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. He also worked as the Research Director of the Center for Middle East Public Policy at the RAND Corporation and as a Middle East analyst for the U.S. intelligence community. Dr. Byman received his B.A. in religion from Amherst College and his Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Follow him @dbyman. § Christine Fair C. Christine Fair is a Georgetown Security Studies Program Assistant Professor, where she focuses on South Asian political and military affairs. Fair previously worked at the RAND Corporation, United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan in Kabul, and at USIP’s Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention. Fair has as authored, co-authored and co-edited several books, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Women in International Security, International Studies Association, American Political Science Association, and American Institute of Pakistan Studies. She serves on the editorial board of numerous journals, and is a senior fellow with the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. Fair received her PhD and MA from the University of Chicago. Her most recent book is Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army’s Way of War (Oxford University Press, 2014). Many of her other publications can be found at christinefair.net § Bruce Hoffman Bruce Hoffman is a Professor and Director of both the Center for Security Studies and the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. Professor Hoffman is currently a member of the National Security Preparedness Group; a Global Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; a Senior Fellow at the Combating Terrorism Center; a Visiting Professor at the International Institute for Counter- Terrorism, Herzliya, Israel and at the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St Andrews University, Scotland ; and serves in various editing capacities at The National Interest, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, and the Columbia University Press Series on Terrorism and Irregular Warfare. Hoffman was awarded the United States Intelligence Community Seal Medallion in 1994 from the Director of Central Intelligence. Follow him @hoffman_bruce. 2 of 13 GeorgetownX: Terrorism and Counterterrorism: An Introduction SELF-PACED COURSE THROUGH MARCH 24, 2018 § Paul R. Pillar In 2005, Paul Pillar retired after a 28-year intelligence career in positions such as National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia; Chief of Analytic Units at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); an original member of the National Intelligence Council’s Analytic Group; Executive Assistant to CIA's Deputy Director for Intelligence; Executive Assistant to Director of Central Intelligence William Webster; and Head of Assessments and Information Group and Deputy Chief of the DCI Counterterrorist Center. Pillar is a retired officer in the U.S. Army Reserve and a former core faculty member at Georgetown University Security Studies Program. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth College, his Ph.D. from Princeton University, and a B.Phil. from Oxford University. INTERVIEWS § Jacob Shapiro, Associate Professor, Princeton University and author of The Terrorist’s Dilemma: Managing Violent Covert Organizations. § Juan Zarate, Senior Adviser, Center for Strategic and International Studies, and former first Secretary of Treasury for Terrorism Financing and Financial Crimes § Major David Blair, USAF, MQ-1 Predator Pilot, United States Air Force § Mark Mazzetti, New York Times Reporter and author of The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth. § Peter Neumann, Professor, King’s College London, and Director, International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation § Rita Katz, Co-founder, SITE Intelligence Group FACULTY SUPPORT TEAM § Brittany Marien, Teaching Assistant Brittany Marien is a Masters Candidate in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University where she concentrates on International Security. Her research examines the nexus of weapons proliferation and counterterrorism. Brittany is currently a Pathways Student Research Trainee at the National Defense University in the Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Previously, Brittany has worked at the U.S. Department of State in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation and the Center for the Strategic and International Studies for the Project on Nuclear Issues. Brittany originally hails from New Hampshire where she graduated summa cum laude from the University of New Hampshire. WHAT IS THE COURSE ABOUT? Terrorism has gone from a persistent yet marginal security concern to one of the most important security problems of our day: indeed, there are few countries that do not suffer from some form of terrorism. Though many terrorist attempts fail, some groups wage lengthy and bloody campaigns and, in exceptional cases, kill hundreds or even thousands in pursuit of their ends. 3 of 13 GeorgetownX: Terrorism and Counterterrorism: An Introduction SELF-PACED COURSE THROUGH MARCH 24, 2018 Course topics include the nuances involved in defining terrorism, the nature of Al-Qaeda, Hamas, and other important groups, the effectiveness of different counterterrorism tools like detention and military force, linkages (or the lack thereof) between terrorism and world religions like Islam, terrorist recruiting, the rule of law, the political context in South Asia and the Middle East, and terrorist use of technology. KEY QUESTIONS • What is terrorism, and what are the components of different definitions? • What are common causes of terrorism? • What are common strategies and tactics of terrorism? How do terrorist groups respond to technological change? • What are common weaknesses of terrorist groups? Why do these occur? • What is the nature of Al-Qaeda, and why has it proven such
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