The Foreign Fighter Problem
Tues.-Weds., July 14–15, 2009
National Press Club
529-14th St NW, 13th Fl.
Washington, DC 20045
On the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines have confronted third-party national combatants. Known as “foreign fighters,” these individuals have gained deadly skills and connections that can be exported or exploited to devastating effect in other locations. Over the past two decades this foreign fighters phenomenon has grown after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 to the ethnically cleansed fields of the Balkans to Chechnya and beyond. But this is not a new problem. This conference brought together recognized academic and analytical expertise in order to not only delve into the foreign fighter problem, but also to recommend prescriptive advice on how to deal with this issue into the future.
Conference Report
Speakers and Topics
- Conference Opening Remarks
- Harvey Sicherman, President, FPRI
- Keynote Address
- Speaker: Ambassador (ret.) Dell Dailey
-
- Panel 1: The Foreign Fighter Phenomenon – Overview
-
- Paper: David Malet, George Washington University
- Panelists: Mary R. Habeck, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University; Erin Simpson, Marine Corps Command and Staff College; Clinton Watts, Innovative Analytics and Training
- Moderator: Michael Horowitz, Senior Fellow, FPRI/University of Pennsylvania
- Multimedia: The Foreign Fighter Phenomenon – Overview
- Panel 2: Foreign Fighters and Sovereignty
-
- Paper: Major Ian Bryan, ANG, School of Advanced Air and Space Studies
- Panelists: Jakub Grygiel, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University; Colonel Mackubin Thomas Owens, USMCR (ret.), Editor, Orbis& Senior Fellow, FPRI/United States Naval War College
- Moderator: Michael Noonan, Director, FPRI Program on National Security
- Multimedia: Foreign Fighters and Sovereignty
- Panel 3: Foreign Fighters and their Economic Impact
-
- Paper: Matthew Levitt, Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Panelists: Brian Fishman, CTC, USMA; Christopher Hewitt, University of Maryland-Baltimore; Lt. Col. Basheer Ilyas, USA, Joint Staff, DoD
- Moderator: Stephanie Kaplan, Visiting Fellow, CSIS/MIT
- Multimedia: Foreign Fighters and their Economic Impact
- Panel 4: Case Study: Syria and the Foreign Fighter Problem
-
- Paper: David Lesch, Trinity University
- Panelists: Murhaf Jouejati, National Defense University; Andrew Tabler, Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Moderator: Harvey Sicherman, President, FPRI
- Multimedia: Case Study: Syria and the Foreign Fighter Problem
- Panel 5: Disrupting the Foreign Fighter Flow
-
- Panelists: Michael Doran, New York University; Dan Green, Terrorism Research Center; Lieutenant Colonel Robert Mackey, USA (ret.), Historian; Barak Mendelsohn, Haverford College
- Moderator: Michael Noonan, Director, Program on National Security, FPRI
- Multimedia: Disrupting the Foreign Fighter Flow
![[FPRI]](/images/logo.png){kind=logo}
Current Issue
Follow FPRI