Course Overview

For nearly a decade, a significant amount of research, investigations, military operations and policymaking has produced a new understanding about the threat of terrorism and the changing and dangerous nature of the international security environment. Terrorism is no longer—and indeed has never been—a foreign problem. It is imperative that present and future leaders be armed with the tools to make sense of these new threats so that they may successfully lead the Army through this very complex and increasingly hostile world.

This course offers a variety of conceptual tools and frameworks to help future Army officers think strategically about key issues in the contemporary security environment. Specifically, this course examines the unique challenge terrorism poses to liberal democratic states, while developing an understanding of terrorist motivations, strategies, means and ends. It is a demanding graduate level course that seeks to educate the students for a world of uncertainty by drawing extensively on research in the field of terrorism, counterterrorism, and weapons of mass destruction.

Instructors

Dr. James Forest (Director)
LTC Joe Felter
Dr. Jarret Brachman
Mr. Brian Fishman

Schedule of Class Meetings and Major Events, Fall Semester 2007

20 Aug: Course & CTC Introduction, and Defining Terrorism
24 Aug: Film- 17 Days of Terror: The Hijack of TWA 847
28 Aug: History and Contemporary Terrorism
4 Sept: Israel and Terrorism (Guest Lecturer: Mr. Benjamin Krasna, Deputy Consul General, Israel Consulate)
6 Sept: The Ideas Behind al Qaida
10 Sept: The United States and al Qaida
18 Sept: The London Attack of July 7 and Radicalization in Europe (Guest Lecturer: Dr. Bruce Hoffman)
24 Sept: The Strategy of Suicide Terrorism
28 Sept: Combating Terrorism (Guest Lecturer: Admiral Olson, Commander, Special Operations Command)
2 Oct: Modern Jihadi Use of the Internet
8 Oct: Iraq Bleedout from the Levant
12 Oct: Understanding the Conflict in Afghanistan
17 Oct :The U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy (Guest Lecturer: AMB Michael Sheehan)
23 Oct: WPR
28-30 Oct. – Class Trip to Washington DC for Selected Cadets
2 Nov: Hizballah and Lebanon (Guest Lecturer: Dr. Afshon Ostavar)
6 Nov: Interagency CT Cooperation in Africa (Guest Lecturer: LTC Scott Womack)
13 Nov: Emerging Hotspots
19 Nov: The Criminal-Terrorism Nexus and Enabling Environments
27 Nov: WMD and Terrorism (Guest Lecturer: Dr. Dave Franz)
3 Dec: The Future of Terrorism (Guest Lecturer: Dr. Bruce Hoffman)
7 -13 Dec: Group Presentations
17-21 Dec. – TEE Week

Course Texts

- Inside Terrorism (revised edition), by Bruce Hoffman (Columbia University Press, 2006)
- Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Understanding the New Security Environment (revised edition), edited by Russell Howard and Reid Sawyer (McGraw-Hill, 2005)
- The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright

For more information, please see the Course Website (internal USMA website only)