On Monday 2 March 2009, Dr Matthew Levitt, Senior Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, spoke on 'Scaling back the "Long War"?: How Obama Will Combat Terrorism' from 1-2pm.
New American President Barack Obama has come into office with a clear change mandate, and has kicked off his administration with a series of bold moves to re-shape the way the United States counters international terrorism. But aside from headlining moves to close Guantanamo, scale back detention policies and torture, what is the President’s overarching strategy to eradicate or manage the threat from global terrorism? In order to answer this and other key questions about the new administration in Washington, the IISS is delighted to be hosting Dr Matthew Levitt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Dr. Matthew Levitt is a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where he directs the Institute’s Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence. Dr. Levitt is a professorial lecturer in strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and an adjunct fellow at the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point. From 2005 to early 2007 Levitt served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Dr. Levitt has also served as an FBI intelligence analyst providing tactical and strategic analytical support to counterterrorism operations. He has earned numerous awards and commendations for his government service at both the FBI and the Treasury Department and is a frequent guest on the national and international media. Dr. Levitt has written extensively on terrorism, intelligence, the Middle East, and Arab-Israeli peace negotiations. His latest publications include Hamas: Politics, Charity and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad (Yale University Press, 2006) ; Negotiating Under Fire: Preserving Peace Talks in the Face of Terror Attacks (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008); and together with Michael Jacobson, The Money Trail: Finding, Freezing and Following Terrorist Finances (The Washington Institute, 2008).
This meeting was chaired by Nigel Inkster, Director of Transnational Threats and Political Risk, and took place on the fourth floor at Arundel House, 13-15 Arundel Street, Temple Place, London WC2R 3DX.
