RITA KATZ
Rita Katz is the Executive Director and founder of the SITE Intelligence Group, the world’s leading non-governmental counterterrorism organization specializing in tracking and analyzing online activity of the global extremist community. Ms. Katz has tracked and analyzed global terrorist and jihadi networks for over two decades, and is well-recognized as one of the most knowledgeable and reliable experts in the field.
Ms. Katz has infiltrated terrorist fronts undercover, testified before Congress and in terrorism trials, and briefed officials at the White House and the Departments of Justice, Treasury, and Homeland Security. Her investigations and testimony have driven action by several governments against terror-linked organizations and individuals. She has provided counterterrorism training sessions to military leadership, intelligence analysts and law enforcement agents from numerous government agencies in the U.S. and abroad. She has led numerous workshops for non-governmental organizations and academic audiences.
For her unique contributions to FBI counterterrorism investigations, Ms. Katz received special recognition from FBI Director Robert Mueller for her "outstanding assistance to the FBI in connection with its investigative efforts."
Outlets to profile Ms. Katz have included the New Yorker, the New York Times, and 60 Minutes. Her commentary on the recruitment, financing, and operations of terrorist organizations regularly appears in leading media outlets such as The New York Times. Reuters, CNN, and The Huffington Post. She is also a regular contributor to The Washington Post, VICE News, The International Business Time, and other publications.
Born in Iraq and a graduate of Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University, Ms. Katz is fluent in Arabic.
BRUCE HOFFMAN
Professor Bruce Hoffman has been studying terrorism and insurgency for more than thirty years. He is currently a tenured professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Washington, DC. Professor Hoffman previously held the Corporate Chair in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency at the RAND Corporation and was also Director of RAND's Washington, DC Office.
His latest book is titled, The Evolution of the Global Terrorist Threat: From 9/11 To Osama Bin Laden's Death. A revised and updated edition of his acclaimed 1998 book, Inside Terrorism, was also published in May 2006.
MARY HABECK
Mary Habeck is a Senior Fellow with the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) and a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Mary was also appointed to the Council on the Humanities at the National Endowment for the Humanities by President Bush and served as Special Advisor for Strategic Planning on the National Security Council staff.
Dr. Habeck’s has authored several articles and books on foreign policy, including Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror and its forthcoming sequel, Attacking America: Al-Qa’ida’s Grand Strategy. You can follow Dr. Habeck on Twitter @MHabeck.
ASSAF MOGHADAM
Assaf Moghadam is Associate Professor at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Israel, and Director of Academic Affairs at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT). Dr. Moghadam, an expert on terrorist suicide missions, has lectured on terrorism issues in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East and has also consulted multiple government agencies.
Professor Moghadam is the author of two books, The Globalization of Martyrdom: Al Qaeda, Salafi Jihad, and the Diffusion of Suicide Attacks and The Roots of Terrorism. You can follow Dr. Moghadam on Twitter @assafmoghadam.
JEAN-PAUL ROUILLER
Jean-Paul Rouiller is the founder of the Geneva Centre for Training and Analysis of Terrorism (GCTAT). His experience spans working in the Swiss Intelligence Service, the Office of the Coordinator of Intelligence Services of Swiss Ambassador to Kenya Jacques Pitteloud, and the Combined Strategic Intelligence Training Program (CSITP), an intelligence course developed by the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Rouiller has also worked for the Swiss Federal Criminal Police, where he created, developed, and led four different Counter-terrorism units.
GABRIEL WEIMANN
Gabriel Weimann is a Full Professor of Communication at Haifa University, Israel. His research interests include the study of media effects, persuasion and influence, modern terrorism, and the mass media. He is also a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Advanced Studies, Ludwig-Maximilian Universitat, Munich and a Visiting Professor at various universities including University of Pennsylvania, University of Maryland, Lehigh University, and the National University of Singapore.
Dr. Weimann has authored eight books, including Terror on the Internet, Freedom and Terror, Terror in Cyberspace: The Next Generation, and his forthcoming Social Research in Israel.
DAVID KANE
David Kane holds a master’s degree in Strategic Security Studies from the College for International Security Studies (CISA) at National Defense University and another in International Transactions from George Mason University. Along with being cited in various newspapers and books regarding terrorism, Kane has also received the Commissioner’s Award from the U.S. Customs Service in 2002 for accomplishments in terrorism investigations.
MARGARET FOSTER
Margaret Foster is a doctoral student at Duke University, studying terrorism and transnational violence with research interests in organizational dynamics of violent groups, network effects of terrorism, and how transnationalism influences conflicts and the organizations involved in them.