The Potomac Institute's International Center for Terrorism Studies on April 30th, 2018 held their 20th annual event on, "Combating Terrorism: National, Regional, and Global Lessons for the Next Decade and Beyond". Terrorism by state and non-state actors poses threats to individuals, communities, nations and perhaps even to the very survival of civilization itself. The potential political, social, economic, and strategic costs are likely to grow if we do not learn the historical lessons and the norms required to prevent future challenges. A panel of experts discussed a wide range of topics, including WMD concerns as well as the roles of diplomacy, the military, democracy, and the media in combating terrorism at home and abroad.

Opening remarks were given by General Alfred Gray, USMC (Ret.), Twenty-Ninth Commandant of the United States Marine Corps as well as Senior Fellow and Chairman of the Board of Regents at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. The panel was moderated by Professor Yonah Alexander, Director of the Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies and Senior Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. The panel included: The Honorable Guy Roberts, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs; Professor Rita Colwell, Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park and the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Senior Fellow at Potomac Institute for Policy Studies; Carl Gorshman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy and, formerly, Senior Counselor to the United States Representative to the United Nations; and Professor Marvin Kalb, Edward R. Murrow Professor Emeritus at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, senior advisor to the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Closing remarks were also given by General Alfred Gray, USMC (Ret.).

Please view the event below.