From 29 April–3 May 2024, the Near East South Asia (NESA) Center for Strategic Studies hosted a Combating Transnational Threats Senior Executive Seminar (CTSES), titled "Countering Violent Extremist Organizations and Narratives," held at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. The five-day CTSES engaged 38 participants from 27 countries, including Armenia, Bahrain, Benin, Colombia, Comoros, Georgia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Kosovo, Maldives, Mauritius, Moldova, Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. Of the participants who completed the course, 21% were female.

Ambassador Robin Raphel (left) and Course Director Dr. Hassan Abbas (right) during Session 4, "Law Enforcement and Countering Violent Extremist Organizations – A Practitioner’s Perspective."

NESA Center Distinguished Professor Dr. Hassan Abbas led the seminar, where leading experts in the field gave presentations followed by question-and-answer periods under Chatham House rules. The seminar analyzed the scope and extent of the challenges posed by violent extremist organizations [VEO] and facilitated conversations on lessons learned from effective campaigns – both in the hard and soft power domains – especially in terms of countering extremist narratives. There was a special focus on how these extremist groups organize, recruit, utilize different means of communication, including disinformation campaigns, and build their nefarious narratives to think about strategies required to counter these efforts.

Dr. Ali Naqvi during Session 3, "Can Artificial Technology help us Counter Violent Extremism?"

NESA Center speakers and moderators included Dr. Roger Kangas (Academic Dean, NESA Center), Dr. Hassan Abbas (Distinguished Professor, NESA Center), Dr. Wayne Clark (Professor, NESA Center), Ambassador Ali Jalali (Distinguished Professor, NESA Center), and COL David Lamm, USA (Ret.)(Acting Director, NESA Center). Guest speakers included Dr. Tricia Bacon (Associate Professor, School of Public Affairs, American University), Todd Leventhal (Former Senior Counter-Disinformation Advisor in the Russia Division of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center), Dr. Ali Naqvi (CEO, American Institute of Artificial Intelligence), Dr. Nadia Gerspacher (Professor, Defense Security Cooperation University), Dr. Asfandyar Mir (Senior Expert, South Asia, United States Institute of Peace), Dr. Cynthia Miller-Idriss (Professor, American University), Honorable Denis Hertel (Former Congressman for the House of Representatives), Ambassador Mohammad Imran (Ambassador of Bangladesh), Wahiduzzaman Noor (Embassy of Bangladesh, Washington D.C.), Hassan Al-Hakeem, (Mainstay Foundation, London), Dr. Danish Faruqi (Professor, Georgetown University), Dr. Shanthie D’Souza (Fullbright-Nehru Visiting Chair, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, USA), Tom Nagorski (Managing Editor, The Cipher Brief), and Ambassador Robin Raphel (Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State).

Dr. Shanthie D’Souza during Session 10, "Countering Extremism in South and Southeast Asia – Best Practices."

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