Countering Terrorism

The Cipher Brief sat down with Charles Lister, Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute, to discuss al Qaeda in Syria’s latest rebranding, how the group is expanding its influence across the country, and the implications for U.S. security.

Historically in Pakistan, Shiite militancy has remained reactive and selective. But with thousands of Pakistani Shiites being recruited and trained by Tehran, the landscape of sectarian militancy is likely to undergo a momentous transformation with a possibility of a head-on confrontation between militant fronts of the two opposing sects. This essay assesses the future impact of Shiite mobilization in Pakistan on the country and how it could transform the local sectarian conflict by fueling radicalization and increasing prospects for ISIS to penetrate and exploit local militant groups to its favor.

Egypt and Hamas are continuing their flirtation on potential cooperation against a common threat in the Islamic State in the Sinai, as well as on the domestic Palestinian scene.

Jasmine El-Gamal, senior fellow in the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council, joins host Paul Salem to discuss strategies for countering radicalization and violent extremism, and how national security policy will be shaped in the Trump administration.

This paper explores the relationship between terrorism and human rights from the international legal perspective, considering terrorism as both a cause and a product of human rights violations and what that means for counter-terrorism efforts.

The conditions that brought about the rise and spread of violent transnational movements in the Middle East are complex and have been long in the making.

Charles Lister, director of MEI's Extremism and Counterterrorism program, discusses what the recent terror attack in lower Manhattan, and the suspect's claimed connection to ISIS, mean for U.S. security and counterterrorism policy.