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Profs & Pints: Trump's Two-Faced War on Terror

Profs and Pints presents: Trump's Two-Faced War on Terror, with Stephen Tankel, associate professor in the School of International Service at American University and an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

Donald Trump made defeating terrorism one of the defining themes of his campaign for president, and his election on a hyper-nationalist America First platform naturally raised the question of how U.S. counterterrorism would change under him.

If a satisfying answer to this question appears elusive more than two years into Trumps time in office, it is because his administrations counterterrorism policies have been Janus-faced. One face consists of policies that Trump inherited from his predecessors and which can be defined as actual counterterrorism. These policies may have evolved under a Trump administration, but they still exist within a traditional counterterrorism paradigm. The other face is faux counterterrorism. These policies, such as the Muslim ban and using U.S. forces to pillage Syrian oil, masquerade as counterterrorism, but are really intended purely to serve political and ideological objectives.

Come learn in detail about these two approaches to counterterrorism, and the distinct threat to national security posed by faux counterterrorism, from Professor Stephen Tankel, an expert on terrorism, counterterrorism, security assistance and cooperation, and security and military affairs in South Asia. His analysis will be based on extensive experience that includes a former position as a senior adviser at the Department of Defense, field research in Afghanistan, Algeria, Kenya, Lebanon, Pakistan, Tunisia, and the Balkans, and his authorship of works such as With Us And Against Us: How Americas Partners Help and Hinder the War on Terror.

Professor Tankel will discuss how policies that can be termed faux counterterrorism fit into a wider pattern of rhetoric and actions that risk undermining actual counterterrorism efforts against groups like the Islamic State. They also may actually enable white supremacist terrorism domestically and globally. Recognizing the two faces of our current counterterrorism policies is essential not only for making sense of current U.S. efforts, but also for addressing the threats that faux counterterrorism policies pose to American ideals. (Advance tickets: $12. Doors: $15, save $2 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later. Please allow yourself time to place any orders and get seated and settled in.)