A nation must think before it acts.
Countering Domestic Terrorism: Examining the Evolving Threat
Today, both international terrorists and domestic terrorists congregate, coordinate, and conspire online, often without having any direct connection or physical interactions with a terrorist organization or fellow adherents. Both types of terrorist perpetrate violence in pursuit of political or...
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The National Security Challenges of Artificial Intelligence, Manipulated Media, and “Deepfakes”
Statement Prepared for the U.S. House of Representatives – Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence – June 13, 2019 Clint Watts Distinguished Research Fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute Non-Resident Fellow, Alliance For Securing Democracy, German Marshall Fund of the United...
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Terrorism and Social Media: Is Big Tech Doing Enough?
On January 17, 2018, Clint Watts will testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Watts is a Robert A. Fox Fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute, Senior Fellow, Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, the George Washington University,...
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Extremist Content and Russian Disinformation Online: Working with Tech to Find Solutions
A decade ago, al Qaeda in Iraq littered YouTube with violent videos. A few years later, Twitter became a playground for al Shabaab’s violent tirades in Somalia and the devastating Westgate shopping mall attack in Kenya. During this same...
Read more »Terror in Europe: Safeguarding U.S. Citizens At Home And Abroad
Recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Istanbul and Brussels should not come as a surprise. The Islamic State’s rise in Europe has been more than four years in the making. By 2012, casual social media monitoring showed a large wave...
Read more »The Russian Far East: Opportunities and Challenges
This testimony was given before a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats entitled, “China’s Rapid Political and Economic Advances in Central Asia and Russia.” Watch video of testimony. The Russian Far East, a...
Read more »Teaching the Next Generation of Innovators
COMMITTEE ON GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES AND THE CREATIVE/INNOVATIVE ECONOMY – October 10, 2012 – Resolution No. 120128 David Oh, Chair Marian Tasco, Vice Chair Cindy Bass, Blondell Reynolds Brown, W. Wilson Goode, Jr., Dennis O’Brien Philadelphia City Council TESTIMONY...
Read more »Hearing on “China’s Narratives Regarding National Security Policy”
I appreciate the opportunity to appear before the Commission at this hearing on an important and under-studied subject. The Chinese government prioritizes manipulating information more than most Americans realize and perhaps more than any other major power. Overall, my...
Read more »China’s Narratives Regarding National Security Policy
The Chinese narrative emerges most clearly from Chinese-language publications on the great powers, including the United States, and on challenges in East Asia, notably in 2010 those related to North Korean belligerence and regionalism involving both Northeast and Southeast...
Read more »Eulogy for General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
Service was Al Haig’s mission. Courage was his defining characteristic. Patriotism was his motivating force. Al and I met over forty years ago. I had been appointed Security Advisor to President Nixon, who had inherited a war that, by...
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