Canadian Intelligence Eh
Everywhere you look these days terrorism and violent extremism dominate the headlines. Whether you follow what is happening in Afghanistan or Iraq, or in the West writ large, we are inundated with news of attacks by groups and individuals fighting for a 'cause'.In a world of multiple voices and opinions it can be very hard to know where to turn. One choice is to look to those who actually worked in counterterrorism in the national security world. In these half-hour podcasts 30-year Canadian intelligence veteran Phil Gurski is joined by a fascinating array of individuals with something meaningful to say about these issues as they provide insight into what they mean and what we need to do about them.
Canadian Intelligence Eh
Canadian Intelligence Eh! - Episode 159: Who creates terrorism assessment tools and do they help?
In the wake of 9/11 there was an explosion - no pun intended! - of interest in terrorism: what it was, what caused it, and, most importantly, what could we do to stop it. One of the niche efforts was that of 'risk assessment', a field that predated the events of September 2001, but was adapted to identify people at risk of adopting violent ideologies and acting upon them. Several such tools were created - but do they actually work and are they useful for practitioners (i.e. security intelligence and law enforcement agencies upon which we rely to act BEFORE terrorist acts occur). Borealis looks at this issue with Emily Corner, a professor of criminology at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.