front cover of Vaults, Mirrors, and Masks
Vaults, Mirrors, and Masks
Rediscovering U.S. Counterintelligence
Jennifer E. Sims and Burton Gerber, Editors
Georgetown University Press, 2009

Decision makers matching wits with an adversary want intelligence—good, relevant information to help them win. Intelligence can gain these advantages through directed research and analysis, agile collection, and the timely use of guile and theft. Counterintelligence is the art and practice of defeating these endeavors. Its purpose is the same as that of positive intelligence—to gain advantage—but it does so by exploiting, disrupting, denying, or manipulating the intelligence activities of others. The tools of counterintelligence include security systems, deception, and disguise: vaults, mirrors, and masks.

In one indispensable volume, top practitioners and scholars in the field explain the importance of counterintelligence today and explore the causes of—and practical solutions for—U.S. counterintelligence weaknesses. These experts stress the importance of developing a sound strategic vision in order to improve U.S. counterintelligence and emphasize the challenges posed by technological change, confused purposes, political culture, and bureaucratic rigidity. Vaults, Mirrors, and Masks skillfully reveals that robust counterintelligence is vital to ensuring America's security.

Published in cooperation with the Center for Peace and Security Studies and the George T. Kalaris Memorial Fund, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.

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Violence and Policing
Madiha Tahir and Shamus Khan, special issue editors
Duke University Press
Contributors to this special issue examine the discourse and practices of policing, providing insights into how policing transforms societal relationships and develops and maintains order. Identifying parallels between police and military power, contributors argue that policing is more than merely the practice of the institution of the police but is the violence work of maintaining a specific social order. Topics covered in the essays include “speculative policing,” which attempts to control not only the present but also uncertain futures; the inextricable relation between anti-Blackness and the violence of the law; the role of police in US politics; French policing of ethno-racial minorities; the relationship between police body cameras and gender equity; and a Brazilian “exceptional prison,” which houses police who have broken the law.

Contributors. Kim Shayo Buchanan, Samira Bueno, Andrew M. Carruthers, Didier Fassin, Ilana Feldman, Phillip Atiba Goff, Jesse A. Goldberg, Rivke Jaffe, Caren Kaplan, Shamus Khan, Andrea Miller, Fatima Mojaddedi, Stuart Schrader, Madiha Tahir, Michelle C. Velasquez-Potts, Graham Denyer Willis
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Violent Extremism
A Handbook of Risk Assessment and Management
Edited by Caroline Logan, Randy Borum, and Paul Gill
University College London, 2023
A practical study of the prevention of violent extremism.

Violent extremism has galvanized public fear and attention. Driven by their concerns, the public has pushed for law enforcement and mental health systems to prevent attacks rather than just respond to them after they occur. The prevention process requires guidance for practitioners and policymakers on how best to identify people who may be at risk, to understand and assess the nature and function of the harm they may cause, and to manage them to mitigate or prevent harm. Violent Extremism provides such guidance.

Over ten chapters, prepared by leading experts, this handbook illuminates the nature of violent extremism and the evolution of prevention-driven practice. Authors draw on the literature and their experience to explain which factors might increase (risk factors) or decrease (protective factors) risk, how those factors might operate, and how practitioners can prepare risk formulations and scenario plans that inform risk management strategies to prevent violent extremist harm.

Each chapter is crafted to support thoughtful, evidence-based practice that is transparent, accountable, and ultimately defensible. Written for an international audience, the volume will be of interest to law enforcement and mental health professionals, criminal justice and security personnel, as well as criminologists, policymakers, and researchers.
 
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The Vital Realities for 2020 and Beyond
Writings on Water Wars, Nuclear Devastation, Endless War, Economic Revolution, and Surveillance Versus Freedom
Roger Armbrust
Parkhurst Brothers, Inc., 2019
This collection of writings by journalist Roger Armbrust focuses on national and international public policy concerns. Armbrust is particularly concerned with water resource policy, both nationally and internationally, the increasing likelihood of nuclear war, given the proliferation of nuclear powers and the destruction of nuclear treaties. Armbrust is concerned that the USA seems to be at war somewhere nearly always, a condition that enhances the power of the military-industrial complex in this country and abroad. Economic instability exacerbated by mounting public and private debt is another of his recurring themes. The continuum of government-and corporate efforts to stifle sustainable economic progress of poorer peoples leads to social instability worldwide.
 
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Vying for Allah’s Vote
Understanding Islamic Parties, Political Violence, and Extremism in Pakistan
Haroon K. Ullah
Georgetown University Press

What is driving political extremism in Pakistan? In early 2011, the prominent Pakistani politician Salmaan Taseer was assassinated by a member of his own security team for insulting Islam by expressing views in support of the rights of women and religious minorities. Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, was killed by gunfire and explosive devices as she left a campaign event in December 2007; strong evidence links members of extremist organizations to her slaying.

These murders underscore the fact that religion, politics, and policy are inextricably linked in Pakistan. In this book, Haroon K. Ullah analyzes the origins, ideologies, bases of support, and electoral successes of the largest and most influential Islamic parties in Pakistan. Based on his extensive field work in Pakistan, he develops a new typology for understanding and comparing the discourses put forth by these parties in order to assess what drives them and what separates the moderate from the extreme. A better understanding of the range of parties is critical for knowing how the US and other Western nations can engage states where Islamic political parties hold both political and moral authority.

Pakistan’s current democratic transition will hinge on how well Islamic parties contribute to civilian rule, shun violence, and mobilize support for political reform. Ullah’s political-party typology may also shed light on the politics of other majority-Muslim democracies, such as Egypt and Tunisia, where Islamist political parties have recently won elections.

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