"Terrorism has now become much more than religious Jihadist groups. We now see far right, far left, we certainly see ethno-nationalists...it's a broad concept now."
On this special episode on the 19th anniversary of the attacks of September 11th, 2001, counter-terrorism expert Seth Jones joins the podcast for a look at the time leading up to 9/11 and what happened in the aftermath, both immediately and gradually. Where did Osama bin Laden come from? Was he the perfect leader to emerge at just the right time to bring Al Qaeda the worldwide infamy it achieved? How did we wake up altered as a nation on September 12th, 2001? Seth Jones and Daniel also take a look at how terrorism itself has evolved in the past nineteen years. Besides the obvious --the rise of social media and its dominance in communication--what else has fundamentally changed? Where are we headed this fall?
Seth G. Jones holds the Harold Brown Chair, is director of the Transnational Threats Project, and is a senior adviser to the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He teaches at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. Prior to joining CSIS, Dr. Jones was the director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation. He also served as representative for the commander, U.S. Special Operations Command, to the assistant secretary of defense for special operations. Before that, he was a plans officer and adviser to the commanding general, U.S. Special Operations Forces, in Afghanistan (Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command–Afghanistan). In 2014, Dr. Jones served on a congressionally mandated panel that reviewed the FBI’s implementation of counterterrorism recommendations contained in the 9/11 Commission Report. Dr. Jones specializes in counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, unconventional warfare, and covert action, including a focus on al Qaeda and ISIS. He is the author of A Covert Action: Reagan, the CIA, and the Cold War Struggle in Poland, Waging Insurgent Warfare, Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of al Qa'ida after 9/11, and In the Graveyard of Empires: America’s War in Afghanistan. Dr. Jones has published articles in a range of journals, such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and International Security, as well as newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Dr. Jones is a graduate of Bowdoin College and received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
