While this may strike some people as arrogant and dismissive I have to confess that when I listen to ‘experts’ talk about national security issues in the media I first look at who is speaking. Some of those who offer opinions are journalists, others are politicians or political junkies, still others are academics. All have […]
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This piece appeared in The Hill Times on October 8, 2018. How many of you recall the terrorist attack in San Bernardino back in December 2015? An Islamist terrorist couple went in to a California health sector office’s Christmas party and opened fire, killing 14 and wounding 22. The two were later killed in a […]
Sometimes you read something in the news that leaves you shaking your head. Here is an example. The government of Nepal has banned pornography – again – in order to, wait for it, ban rape. To this end, it has added harsh fines or prison sentences for internet service providers who refuse to comply with the […]
Do you know the old saying “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”? It refers to the notion that we may be hoodwinked by an unscrupulous character once for no fault of our own (aside from having a poor judge of character perhaps), but if we have the wool pulled […]
As a former practitioner in the security intelligence world I have, as do many others, a distinct bias. My understanding of many different social phenomena is informed and framed by the job I did and the particular kind of information I had access to for more than three decades: i.e. classified secrets. In light of […]
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No, Al Qaeda never went away
Ready for a “where were you when…?” question? I launched my first book last week in Ottawa and my host, the CBC’s Hannah Thibedeau, asked me what my favourite part of ‘An end to the war on terrorism‘ was. She had warned me she was going to throw that one at me so I had […]
This post appeared in The Hill Times on October 1, 2018. In 1964 US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart came up with a now famous comment that has become a meme (not there were memes back in 1964). During a threshold case on obscenity he stated “I shall not today attempt further to define the […]
On November 13, 2015 I was in France, Paris to be precise. If that date reminds you of something, let me refresh your memory. That was of course the day – or more accurately the evening – when a group of Islamist terrorists struck in the core of the country’s capital, attacking the national sports […]
If there is one agency that has not done too well, at least not publicly, since 9/11 it is the US’ CIA. From failing to have the right people and resources in place to prevent those terrorist acts from happening to the news over the use of torture and ‘black sites’, the Agency – as […]
This piece appeared in The Hill Times on September 17, 2018. At the risk of engaging in pure self promotion I would like to announce that my fourth book on terrorism, entitled “An end to the ‘war on terrorism’”, is coming out later this month (for those in Ottawa who are interested I will be […]