Episode 172 – how woke views impact counter terrorism efforts
We in the West, and especially in Canada, are living in an era where what we have come to call ‘wokism’ has also come to dominate conversations about terrorism and national security. The nature of threat has been re-interpreted and some are trying to convince us that the broadly-defined ‘far right’ threat is larger than that of Islamist terrorism. This is having an impact on counter terrorism efforts, including those at the very early stage (what is sometimes referred to as ‘prevention’). Borealis talks with UK professional Ian Acheson on these issues.
Independent Review of Prevent’s report and government response – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
About my guest
Ian Acheson spent a quarter century in prison security and counter-terrorism. He also ran the UK government’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, in Southwest England. He currently works as a senior adviser to the US-based Counter Extremism Project.
Canadian Intelligence Eh
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 counter-terrorism 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.
About Phil Gurski
Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Distinguished Fellow in National Security at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specialising in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation. He is the author of six books on terrorism, including the forthcoming second edition of The Peaceable Kingdom: A history of terrorism in Canada from Confederation to the present, published by Double Dagger in February 2023.
