NEWS
ICONS team announces new self-serve online simulations
START’s International Communication & Negotiation Simulations (ICONS) team has announced that a new self-serve option is now available for all of their online educational simulations.
START director helps 63K veterans, military family members become poll workers
William Braniff, director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), has spent the last six months encouraging veterans and military family members to sign up to become poll workers through a new campaign called Vet the Vote.
Researcher Spotlight: Bob Lamb
ICONS Director and Associate Research Scientist Bob Lamb first heard about START “mainly by osmosis,” as during START’s first decade he was doing his doctoral work studying conflict and extremism at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy.
START Director attends Baltimore Speakers Series event featuring former CIA Director John Brennan
Last month, START Director William Braniff was invited to attend a private reception and dinner with former CIA Director John Brennan at the Maryland Club. This event was hosted by the Baltimore Speakers Series, and was followed by a public lecture by Brennan at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.
FEATURED RESEARCH
START’s Unconventional Weapons and Technology (UWT) division has announced the creation of their new CBRN Data Suite and Portal, which is now accessible online. The Data Suite includes an event-level and an actor-level dataset. The event-level dataset is based on UWT’s Profiles of Incidents Involving CBRN and Non-state Actors (POICN) database, and has been updated through May 2022. You can access the CBRN Data Suite and Portal at this link: https://cbrn.umd.edu. If you have any questions, please reach out to the project technical lead Markus Binder at poicn@umd.edu.
FEATURED PUBLICATION
Stand Down: A Journal of Applied Communication Research Forum on Extremism and White Nationalism in the United States Military
McDermott, Victoria, Amy May, Leandra H. Hernández, Max Erdemandi, Nick Mararac, Hamilton Bean, William T. Howe, Kurt Braddock, Stevie Munz, Precious Yamaguchi and Alexa DiCamillo
The spread and acceptance of extremism and White nationalism throughout United States institutions poses some of today’s most difficult challenges to national (in)security. This forum brings together scholars from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives to center communication in an effort to investigate, disrupt, and mitigate extremism and White nationalism within the United States military (USM). Ultimately, we challenge future scholars to continue this invaluable line of research so that we may continue to support the needs of a diverse combat force and mission success of the USM.
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Online Winter Courses
START offers fully online summer and winter courses each year which are open to any current degree seeking student or non-degree seeking individual. Current University of Maryland students may register through Testudo. Non-University of Maryland students must apply as non-degree seeking students, visiting students, or students with Golden ID Cardholder Status through the University of Maryland’s Office of Extended Studies. The classes this winter include Terrorism Studies; Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Global Jihadist Movements; and Social Network Analysis for Terrorism, and will run from January 3-23, 2023.
Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Security and Terrorism Studies
Prospective students can now apply for START’s fully online MPS in Security & Terrorism Studies. The program is appropriate for individuals interested in (and/or currently) working in fields related to intelligence analysis, national security analysis, or analysis of other relevant topic areas, and individuals interested in (and/or currently) conducting scholarly research on terrorism and security. Apply by January 6, 2023 for Spring 2023.
Global Terrorism Studies Minor Program
START has developed an undergraduate minor in Global Terrorism Studies, a cross-disciplinary program housed in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland. The minor is designed to train the next generation of terrorism analysts, including students who plan to pursue graduate study related to terrorism as well as employment in the federal, state, local, non-profit, and/or private sectors. START accepts applications to the program from University of Maryland undergraduates once per calendar year, during the spring semester. Applications are due by February 17, 2023 for Fall 2023.
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
The Center for International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM) at the University of Maryland is hiring three positions for the upcoming calendar year:
- An in-country project manager for Ghana: Apply here
- An in-country project manager for Benin: Apply here
- A postdoc associated with the Benin project: Apply here
START IN THE NEWS
NPR: Why conspiracy theories about Paul Pelosi's assault keep circulating
START researcher Erin Miller is quoted in this article about the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
PolitiFact: Election officials, lawmakers in Congress have faced increase in threats
START researcher Michael Jensen is quoted in this article about the increase in threats against public servants.
Washington Post: A wide majority of Americans are concerned about politically-motivated violence
START researcher Michael Jensen is quoted in this article about politically motivated violence in the United States.
Washington Post: Spate of global assassination attempts hints at a violent new era
Data from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) is used and GTD Program Manager Erin Miller is quoted in this article about the rise of global assassination attempts.
The Intercept: America's 9/11 wars created the foot soldiers of far-right violence at home
START researcher Michael Jensen is quoted in this article about extremism among veterans.
ABC News: Anti-Semitic threats spotlight America's issue with hate
Data from the Radicalization and Disengagement (RaD) portfolio is used in this article about anti-Semitic threats in the United States.
Yahoo News: DOJ to monitor polling sites across country amid fears of voter intimidation threats
START Director William Braniff is quoted in this article about the threat of attacks on US election sites.
NBC News: FBI, DHS and social media firms like Meta, TikTok aren't adequately addressing threat of domestic extremists, Senate report says
Data from the Radicalization and Disengagement (RaD) portfolio is used in this article about a recent Senate report on domestic terrorism and social media.
Washington Post: As Twitter defends its counterterror work, experts fear a spike under Musk
START Director William Braniff is quoted in this article about counterterrorism efforts on Twitter.
Salon: FBI and DHS failing to address threat of domestic terrorism, according to new Senate report
Data from the Radicalization and Disengagement (RaD) portfolio is used in this article about a recent Senate report on domestic terrorism and social media.
This is a selection of news clips from the past month.
A complete list of START’s media coverage can be found here.
SUPPORTING START
Help Support START Research and Education
The START Consortium is dedicated to generating knowledge of the human causes and consequences of terrorism. Applying rigorous standards to both research and education, START seeks to illuminate one of the most highly politicized and understudied phenomena in the social sciences for students, practitioners and policy-makers. Funded primarily through research grants to date, START is seeking to generate an endowment that will provide the flexibility and autonomy to ensure that it can continue to serve as an objective source of data and empirically based analysis into the future. To donate, or for more information, please click here.
Copyright ©2022 The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), All rights reserved.