Monday, September 27, 2010

The Foreign Fighter Problem: Recent Trends and Case Studies

Mon.-Tues., September 27–28, 2010

Reserve Officers Association
One Constitution Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20045

On the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines have confronted third-party national combatants. Known as “foreign fighters,” these individuals have gained deadly skills and connections that can be exported or exploited to devastating effect in other locations. Over the past two decades, the foreign fighters phenomenon has grown after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 to the ethnically cleansed fields of the Balkans to Chechnya and beyond. But this is not a new problem. This conference builds upon the findings of the FPRI’s first foreign fighters conference from the summer of 2009 and brings together recognized academic and analytical expertise in order examine recent trends in the foreign fighter phenomenon and also explore the particular cases of Somalia, the Maghreb, Yemen, and Afghanistan/Pakistan.
Attendance at the Program and Lunch is free for FPRI & ROA Members, and $50 for Non-Members
Reservations Required (no walk-ins). To attend in person, RSVP to lux@fpri.org (provide full contact information)
Free for FPRI and ROA Members, $50 for non-Members
This event will be webcast.
Reserve Officers Association
One Constitution Avenue NE
Washington, DC [display map]

Download Conference Agenda (2 pages, 231 KB PDF)

Download Registration Form (1 pages, 122 KB PDF)

Agenda: Day 1 - Monday, September 27

8:00 AM: Conference Registration
8:45 AM: Welcoming Remarks
8:55 AM: Video Message
  • From Gen. William E. Ward, Commander, US Africa Command
9:00 AM: Keynote Address
  • Speaker: Terrance Ford, Director of Intelligence and Knowledge Development, United States Africa Command
9:45 AM: Break
10:00 AM: Panel 1: Recent Trends in Foreign Fighter Source Countries and Transit Networks
  • Panelists: Stephanie Kaplan, MIT; Marc Sageman, FPRI; Clinton Watts, Innovative Analytics and Training; Lorenzo Vidino, RAND Corporation
  • Moderator: Michael Noonan, FPRI
12:00PM: Lunch
1:15 PM: Panel 2: Somalia Case Study
  • Paper: AMB (ret.) David Shinn, George Washington University
  • Panelists: Ted Dagne, Congressional Research Service; Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies; Ken Menkhaus, Davidson College
  • Moderator: Michael Noonan, FPRI
3:00 PM: Break
3:15 PM: Panel 3: Maghreb Case Study
  • Paper: J. Peter Pham, National Committee on American Foreign Policy/James Madison University
  • Panelists: Lianne Kennedy Boudali, RAND Corporation; John Entelis, Fordham University; Audra K. Grant, RAND Corporation
  • Moderator: Samuel Helfont, FPRI/Princeton University

Agenda: Day 2 - Tuesday, September 28

8:00 AM: Conference Registration
8:45 AM: Panel 4: Yemen Case Study
  • Paper: Christopher Boucek, Carnegie Endowment for Int’l Peace
  • Panelists: Brian O’Neill, Waq al-Waq blog; Barak Salmoni, Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Jeremy Sharp, Congressional Research Service
  • Moderator: Tally Helfont, FPRI
10:30 AM: Break
10:45 AM: Panel 5: Afghanistan & Pakistan Case Study
  • Paper: Brian Glyn Williams, Univ. of Massachusetts-Dartmouth
  • Panelists: Sameer Lalwani, New America Foundation/MIT; Bruce Riedel, Brookings Institution; Stephen Tankel, Carnegie Endowment for Int’l Peace
  • Moderator: Michael Horowitz, FPRI/University of Pennsylvania
12:30 PM: Concluding Remarks

Webcast

To register for a live broadcast of the conference, please follow the links below:

Materials from FPRI's July 2009 conference on Foreign Fighters

Foreign Fighters, Sovereignty, and Counter-Terrorism: Selected Essays

Edited by Michael Noonan, Managing Director of FPRI’s Program on National Security, this monograph is a collection of essays from “The Foreign Fighter Progblem,” a program conference held July 14–15, 2009 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Ex-Somali Police Commissioner General Mohamed Abshir

Ex-Somali Police Commissioner General Mohamed Abshir

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater
Somalia army parade 1979

Sultan Kenadid

Sultan Kenadid
Sultanate of Obbia

President of the United Meeting with Prime Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Egal of the Somali Republic,

President of the United Meeting with Prime Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Egal of the Somali Republic,

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire
Sultanate of Warsengeli

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre
Siad Barre ( A somali Hero )

MoS Moments of Silence

MoS Moments of Silence
honor the fallen

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie
Beautiful handshake

May Allah bless him and give Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan

May Allah bless him and give Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan
Honorable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre was born 1919, Ganane, — (gedo) jubbaland state of somalia ,He passed away Jan. 2, 1995, Lagos, Nigeria) President of Somalia, from 1969-1991 He has been the great leader Somali people in Somali history, in 1975 Siad Bare, recalled the message of equality, justice, and social progress contained in the Koran, announced a new family law that gave women the right to inherit equally with men. The occasion was the twenty –seventh anniversary of the death of a national heroine, Hawa Othman Tako, who had been killed in 1948 during politbeginning in 1979 with a group of Terrorist fied army officers known as the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF).Mr Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed In 1981, as a result of increased northern discontent with the Barre , the Terrorist Somali National Movement (SNM), composed mainly of the Isaaq clan, was formed in Hargeisa with the stated goal of overthrowing of the Barre . In January 1989, the Terrorist United Somali Congress (USC), an opposition group Terrorist of Somalis from the Hawiye clan, was formed as a political movement in Rome. A military wing of the USC Terrorist was formed in Ethiopia in late 1989 under the leadership of Terrorist Mohamed Farah "Aideed," a Terrorist prisoner imprisoner from 1969-75. Aideed also formed alliances with other Terrorist groups, including the SNM (ONLF) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), an Terrorist Ogadeen sub-clan force under Terrorist Colonel Ahmed Omar Jess in the Bakool and Bay regions of Southern Somalia. , 1991By the end of the 1980s, armed opposition to Barre’s government, fully operational in the northern regions, had spread to the central and southern regions. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled their homes, claiming refugee status in neighboring Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. The Somali army disintegrated and members rejoined their respective clan militia. Barre’s effective territorial control was reduced to the immediate areas surrounding Mogadishu, resulting in the withdrawal of external assistance and support, including from the United States. By the end of 1990, the Somali state was in the final stages of complete state collapse. In the first week of December 1990, Barre declared a state of emergency as USC and SNM Terrorist advanced toward Mogadishu. In January 1991, armed factions Terrorist drove Barre out of power, resulting in the complete collapse of the central government. Barre later died in exile in Nigeria. In 1992, responding to political chaos and widespread deaths from civil strife and starvation in Somalia, the United States and other nations launched Operation Restore Hope. Led by the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), the operation was designed to create an environment in which assistance could be delivered to Somalis suffering from the effects of dual catastrophes—one manmade and one natural. UNITAF was followed by the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM). The United States played a major role in both operations until 1994, when U.S. forces withdrew. Warlordism, terrorism. PIRATES ,(TRIBILISM) Replaces the Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre administration .While the terrorist threat in Somalia is real, Somalia’s rich history and cultural traditions have helped to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for international terrorism. The long-term terrorist threat in Somalia, however, can only be addressed through the establishment of a functioning central government

The Honourable Ronald Reagan,

The Honourable Ronald Reagan,

When our world changed forever

When our world changed forever

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)
Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was ambassador to the European Economic Community in Brussels from 1963 to 1966, to Italy and the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] in Rome from 1969 to 1973, and to the French Govern­ment in Paris from 1974 to 1979.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac 'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac 'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.
Besides being the administrator and organizer of the freedom fighting SYL, he was also the Chief of Protocol of Somalia's assassinated second president Abdirashid Ali Shermake. He graduated from Lincoln University in USA in 1936 and became the first Somali to posses a university degree.

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic
Somalia

About Us

The Foundation is dedicated to networking like-minded Somalis opposed to the terrorist insurgency that is plaguing our beloved homeland and informing the international public at large about what is really happening throughout the Horn of Africa region.

Blog Archive

We Are Winning the War on Terrorism in Horn of Africa

The threat is from violent extremists who are a small minority of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, the threat is real. They distort Islam. They kill man, woman and child; Christian and Hindu, Jew and Muslim. They seek to create a repressive caliphate. To defeat this enemy, we must understand who we are fighting against, and what we are fighting for.

Terror Free Somalia Foundation