The Combating Terrorism Center hosted its 4th Annual Cadet/Student Conference. The conference provides a high-level forum for undergraduate and graduate students to present research focused on the characteristics, causes, and implications of terrorism and insurgency as well as broader issues related to asymmetric conflicts. This year’s experts included the Honorable Juan Zarate, former Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism (2005-2009); Dr. Victor Asal, Chair of Public Administration and an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at SUNY Albany; and Dr. Mark Juergensmeyer, founding director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, professor of sociology, and affiliate professor of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Student presenters hailed from such institutions as Stanford University, London School of Economics, Kings College, and UMASS Lowell.
The two-day event featured addresses by COL Cindy Jebb, head of the Department of Social Sciences, and AMB Michael Sheehan, CTC’s Distinguished Chair, as well as presentations by several cadets. These included CDT David Lane (Conciliation Strategies in Northern Ireland), CDT Theodore Lipsky (Security Sector Reform in Post Asymmetric Conflicts), CDT Joe Presti (States or Something Else—A Comparison between ISIS and Hezbollah), CDT Bryan Silverman (Deciphering National Intelligence Institutions), and CDT Carson Warnberg (Effectiveness of CT Legislation against Militia Groups). Other cadets and USMA faculty attended panels and contributed to discussions throughout the conference.