A Department of Homeland Security Emeritus Center of Excellence led by the University of Maryland

A consortium of researchers dedicated to improving the understanding of the human causes and consequences of terrorism

January News: DoD awards START nearly $3M to enhance critical terrorism datasets


January News: DoD awards START nearly $3M to enhance critical terrorism datasets

January 31, 2019
DoD awards START nearly $3 million to enhance critical terrorism datasets
The Department of Defense (DoD) Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO) has awarded nearly $3 million to START to update and enhance key terrorism-related datasets that serve as inputs into DoD and intelligence community modeling and simulation efforts; threat, vulnerability and risk assessments; and visualization and decision-support platforms. Read more.
 
START welcomes 109 students for the spring 2019 semester
More than 100 students have joined START this spring to work with research teams on projects examining topics including radicalization, CBRN threats, terrorist tactics and international crises. The spring cohort includes more than 60 interns from universities across the country and more than 40 First-year Intensive Research Experience students from the University of Maryland. Read more.
 
DISCUSSION POINT
My Road to Violent Extremism (As Its Researcher, That Is…)
In this piece for “Perspectives on Psychological Science,” START Researcher Arie Kruglanski discusses how his work as an experimental psychologist led him to study terrorism, radicalization and deradicalization. Read more.
 
PUBLICATIONS
Foreign Fighter Influence in Al-Shabaab: Limitations and Future Prospects
Oxford University Press: War and Peace in Somalia: National Grievances, Local Conflict and Al-Shabaab
Bacon, Tricia, and Daisy Muibu
 
Al-Qaida and Al-Shabaab: A Resilient Alliance
Oxford University Press: War and Peace in Somalia: National Grievances, Local Conflict and Al-Shabaab
Bacon, Tricia, and Daisy Muibu
 
Introducing the Nonviolent Action in Violent Contexts (NVAVC) dataset
Journal of Peace Research
Chenoweth, Erica, and Cullen S. Hendrix, Kyleanne Hunter
 
Fratricide in Rebel Movements: A Network Analysis of Syrian Militant Infighting
Journal of Peace Research
Gade, Emily Kalah, and Mohammed M. Hafez, Michael Gabbay
 
Government Interference in Religious Institutions and Terrorism
Religion, State and Society
Henne, Peter S.
 
Examining Ideologically Motivated Cyberattacks Performed by Far-Left Groups
Terrorism and Political Violence
Holt, Thomas J., and Mattisen Stonhouse, Joshua Freilich, Steven M. Chermak
 
When Data Do Not Matter: Exploring Public Perceptions of Terrorism
Studies in Conflict & Terrorism
Kearns, Erin M., and Allison E. Betus, Anthony F. Lemieux
 
Cognitive Mechanisms in Violent Extremism
Cognition
Kruglanski, Arie W., and Jessica R. Fernandez, Adam R. Factor, Ewa Szumowska
 
Government Policies for Counteracting Violent Extremism
Annual Review of Criminology
LaFree, Gary, and Joshua D. Freilich
 
Cyber-Dependent Crimes: An Interdisciplinary Review
Annual Review of Criminology
Maimon, David, and Eric R. Louderback
 
Nuclear Matters: Lithuanian Security Culture in the Context of NATO Trends
Lithuanian Annual Strategic Review
Murauskaite, Egle E.
 
The Marvel of Martyrdom: The Power of Self-Sacrifice in a Selfish World
Oxford University Press
Moskalenko, Sophia, and Clark McCauley
 
Trends of Anashid Usage in Da‘esh Video Messaging and Implications for Identifying Terrorist Audio and Video
Studies in Conflict & Terrorism
Pieslak, Jonathan, and Brian Pieslak, Anthony F. Lemieux
 
A Study on a Sequential One‐Defender‐N‐Attacker Game
Risk Analysis
Xu, Zhiheng, and Jun Zhuang
 
NEWS
 

Researcher Spotlight: Egle Murauskaite
START has a more global reach thanks to Egle Murauskaite, an ICONS team member based in Lithuania, and an expert on unconventional security threats and gray zone crises – conflicts that don’t rise to the level of overt armed warfare, but exceed normal peacetime activities. Read more.
 
START grows collaboration with Tec de Monterrey
Last semester, START held a joint conference with UMD partner institution Tec de Monterrey (TEC), in Monterrey, Mexico, to discuss the progress of the joint pilot project “Social Media Influencers: Re-Domaining Fashion Industry Forecasting to Anticipate Online Extremist Radicalization.” Read more.
EVENTS
Book Talk: Women in the Crossfire: Understanding and Ending Honor Killing
12 p.m. Feb. 11, at START headquarters
Dr. Robert Churchill, former Elton Professor of Philosophy at George Washington University, will give a presentation on his book, “Women in the Crossfire: Understanding and Ending Honor Killing.”
Register to attend.
 
Lecture: Marvel Comics' Civil War: September 11 Attack, Cultural Trauma, and Fiction as Therapy
11 a.m. Feb. 13, at START headquarters
In this lecture, START researcher Max Erdemandi will analyze the terrorist attacks of September 11 as cultural trauma, and focus on the fictional retelling of the September 11 narratives in Marvel's Civil War cross-over as a therapeutic process.
Register to attend.
 
Book Talk: Turning to Political Violence: The Emergence of Terrorism
12 p.m. Feb. 26, at START headquarters
Dr. Marc Sageman, forensic psychiatrist and government counterterrorism consultant, will give a presentation on his book, “Turning to Political Violence: The Emergence of Terrorism.”
Register to attend.
 
Lecture: A Tale of Two Caliphates
10:30 a.m. March 7, at START headquarters
In this lecture, START Director William Braniff will compare and contrast al-Qaida and its global movement with the Islamic State and its global movement, examining the implications of this global competition.
Register to attend.
DEADLINES
DEADLINE: March 1, 2019, Apply for Global Terrorism Minor program
START's Global Terrorism Minor, a cross-disciplinary program housed in UMD's College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, 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. 
TRAINING
START IN THE NEWS

Vox: Al-Shabaab's Kenya attack proves the terrorist group is still deadly
START Research Director Amy Pate is quoted in this article about the al-Shabaab attack in Nairobi.
 
ABC: Terror attacks in 2019 highlight challenges remain
This article on terrorism challenges in 2019 uses data from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD).
 
Larry King Now: The Psychology Behind Violent Hate Groups
START researcher Peter Simi appeared on Larry King Now to discuss the psychology of radicalization. A clip of this interview can be seen here.
 
Fox: Concern over future funding of top terrorism database
This article about funding for the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) quotes START Director William Braniff.
 
Council on Foreign Relations: The Top Conflicts to Watch in 2019: Terrorist Attack
This blog post on ongoing conflicts and the threat of terrorist attacks on the U.S. homeland uses data from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD).
 
New Republic: How to Build a Powerful Protest Movement
START researcher Erica Chenoweth’s work on nonviolent resistance movements is featured in this article about protest movements.
 

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.

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