Marshall Center Publishes Lessons Learned from Counterterrorism Workshop
By Christine June
Public Affairs Office
George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany (Jan. 7, 2015) – The George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies just released a report on the best practices and findings of combating foreign fighters from its Global Counterterrorism Alumni Community of Interest Workshop held here Nov. 16 to 19.
The Marshall Center’s workshop titled “Perspectives on Countering Foreign Terrorist Fighters” was held four days after the deadly terrorist attacks occurred in Paris.
More than 75 counterterrorism alumni from 44 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East and North America attended the workshop.
Twelve gave presentations on their national perspectives and experiences in countering foreign terrorist fighters.
A selection of these talks have been uploaded to the Marshall Center’s YouTube page. Lectures are:
- U.S. Army Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Keith Dayton’s Welcome Remarks;
- Dr. Sam Mullins’ lecture on “The Foreign Terrorist Fighter Phenomenon;”
- Philippine army Col. Antonio Sugarol’s lecture on foreign terrorist fighters in Asia;
- Paul Power’s lecture on foreign terrorist fighters in Asia;
- Bangladesh Brig. Gen. Md Shafeenul Isalm’s lecture on foreign terrorist fighters in Asia;
- Marcus Brixskiold’s lecture on foreign terrorist fighters in Europe;
- Vasko Shutarov’s lecture on foreign terrorist fighters in Europe;
- Kamelia Dimitrova’s lecture on foreign terrorist fighters in Europe;
- Albanian Maj. Esmerald Salillari’s lecture on foreign terrorist fighters in Europe;
- Panamanian Maj. Yovani Edgar Chavez Rodriguez’s lecture on foreign terrorist fighters in the Americas;
- Ugandan Col. Tingira Omero Irumba’s lecture on foreign terrorist fighters in Africa; and,
- Jordanian Armed Forces Col. Raed Ghassan KH Almbaidin’s lecture on foreign terrorist fighters in the Middle East
“This is a threat that more than 100 nations around the world face. It’s a threat just recently shown in Paris by the attack carried out there by fighters who had gone to Iraq and Syria and then returned to France,” said Director, Program in Terrorism and Security Studies retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. James Howcroft. “We bought together these alumni, who are practitioners in the counterterrorism field, to talk about what their nations are doing about this threat, to exchange best practices, lessons learned both good and bad, and how to deal with this threat and how to mitigate it.”