The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the president of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, and composed of senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials.
Counterterrorism, also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to combat or eliminate terrorism.
The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the United States. The position was created by the Homeland Security Act following the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Janet Ann Napolitano is an American politician, lawyer, and academic administrator. She served as president of the University of California from 2013 to 2020, on the faculty at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley since 2015, the United States secretary of homeland security from 2009 to 2013, and the governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009.
Robert Rand Brittingham Beers is an American government official. He served as Deputy Homeland Security Advisor to the President of the United States during the Barack Obama administration. He also served as acting Secretary of Homeland Security following the resignation of Secretary Janet Napolitano on September 6, 2013 until Jeh Johnson assumed that office on December 23, 2013.
Zoë Eliot Baird is an American lawyer and Senior Counselor for Technology and Economic Growth to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. She was CEO and President of the Markle Foundation from 1998 to 2022. She is known for her role in the Nannygate matter of 1993, which arose when she was nominated by President Bill Clinton as the first woman to be Attorney General of the United States, but she withdrew her nomination when it was discovered she had hired undocumented immigrants and failed to pay Social Security taxes for them. Since 1998, she has led the Markle Foundation.
Walid Phares is a Lebanese-American politician, scholar, and conservative pundit.
Marco Antonio López Jr. is an American politician. He has served in both elected and non-elected public offices, including as mayor of Nogales, Arizona, executive director of the Arizona-Mexico Commission, policy advisor to Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano for Mexico and Latin America, and director of the Arizona Department of Commerce. He is best known as a previous chief of staff of United States Customs and Border Protection who served from 2009 to 2011 under CBP Commissioner Alan Bersin, and as senior advisor to the U.S.-based foundation of billionaire Carlos Slim focused on broadband connectivity for all and free online education.
Richard A. Falkenrath Jr. served as deputy commissioner of counter-terrorism of the New York City Police Department from 2006 to 2010. He was the third person to hold this position. His predecessors were Frank Libutti and Michael A. Sheehan.
The Century Foundation is a progressive think tank headquartered in New York City with an office in Washington, D.C. It was founded as a nonprofit public policy research institution. Its staff, fellows, and authors produce books, reports, papers, pamphlets, and online publications. The Foundation also hosts policy-related events and workshops for various audiences, including policy experts, journalists, college students and other academics, and the general public. It also manages several ongoing policy projects and operates a number of websites on various policy-related topics.
Matthew Levitt is an American political scientist. He is an expert in Hamas.
Jane Holl Lute is an American diplomat and security analyst currently serving as the UN special envoy on the Cyprus dispute. She served as the deputy secretary of homeland security from 2009 through 2013, after having been confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 3, 2009. Previously, Lute was the United Nations assistant secretary-general for peacebuilding support. Before that, she was assistant secretary-general for mission support in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, beginning in August 2003. She is the president and CEO of the Arlington-based Council on CyberSecurity and senior advisor to Measure, a drone-as-a-service company. On January 5, 2014, she was appointed special adviser for relocation of Camp Hurriya residents outside of Iraq by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. On February 8, 2016, she was appointed special coordinator on improving the United Nations response to sexual exploitation and abuse. In 2020, Lute was elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
Evelyn Nicolette Farkas is an American national security advisor, author, and foreign policy analyst. She is the current executive director of the McCain Institute, a nonprofit focused on democracy, human rights, and character-driven leadership.
Juliette N. Kayyem is an American former government official and author. She is host of the Boston-based radio channel WGBH (FM)'s podcast The SCIF, and has also appeared on CNN and Boston Public Radio, and written columns for The Boston Globe.
The National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) is a terrorism threat advisory scale used by the US Department of Homeland Security since April 26, 2011.
Islamic extremism in the United States comprises all forms of Islamic extremism occurring within the United States. Islamic extremism is an adherence to fundamentalist interpretations of Islam, potentially including the promotion of violence to achieve political goals. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, Islamic extremism became a prioritized national security concern of the U.S. government and a focus of many subsidiary security and law enforcement entities. Initially, the focus of concern was on foreign Islamic terrorist organizations, particularly al-Qaeda, but in the course of the years since the September 11 terror attacks, the focus has shifted more towards Islamic extremist radicalized individuals and jihadist networks within the United States.
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) is a non-profit neoconservative think tank and a registered lobbying organization based in Washington, D.C., United States. It has also been described as a pro-Israel, anti-Iran lobby group due to its focus on Iran and opposition to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
Violent extremism is a form of extremism that condones and enacts violence with ideological or deliberate intent, such as religious or political violence. Violent extremist views often conflate with religious and political violence, and can manifest in connection with a range of issues, including politics, religion, and gender relations.
The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is a non-profit non-governmental organization that combats extremist groups "by pressuring financial support networks, countering the narrative of extremists and their online recruitment, and advocating for strong laws, policies and regulations".
Elizabeth D. Sherwood-Randall is an American national security and energy leader, public servant, educator, and author currently serving as the 11th United States Homeland Security Advisor to President Joe Biden since 2021. She previously served in the Clinton and Obama Administrations and held appointments at academic institutions and think tanks.
