Jebsen Center to Close in September 2008

After an active three years of research, teaching, course development, policy guidance, and professional events, The Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies will be closing its doors in September 2008.

The Jebsen Center was established at The Fletcher School, Tufts University in September of 2005 with the mission to increase the understanding and competency of counter-terrorism professionals at the local, national, and international levels.  Core research topics focused on developing proactive counterterrorism alternatives against future terrorist threats through three main areas: Prediction, Prevention, and Preemption.

The Center was founded with a gift by Mr. Jan Henrik Jebsen, Chairman of the Gamma Applied Visions Group, a Swiss holding company. The Center was led by Director Brigadier General (retired) Russell Howard, Associate Director Paula Broadwell, Associate Director Stacy Neal, and Staff Assistant Jeannine Lenehan. In addition, many talented fellows, research assistants, research associates, and student workers contributed to make the Jebsen Center a success during its three years of activity.

The Jebsen Center's website will remain active for a limited time, as will its main email inbox. All future inquiries should be directed to The Fletcher School.

Jebsen Center Performance Highlights, 2005-2008

The Jebsen Center launched its activities in September 2005 with little more than a small office suite, a director, a staff assistant, and several student employees. Early research funding was disbursed to several Fletcher School students to pursue topics such as female suicide bombing, the role of business in combating terrorism, the terror-crime nexus in southeastern Europe and the Caucasus, and Iranian support for terror groups. The Jebsen Center formally launched in January 2006 with a conference and opening ceremonies, which highlighted the expertise of terrorism experts Dr. Jarret Brachman (Combating Terrorism Center, USMA-West Point), Dr. Rohan Gunaratna (Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Singapore), Dr. Bruce Hoffman (Georgetown University), and Rita Katz (SITE Institute).

In September 2006, the Jebsen Center received its first major research grant from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation to fund a project entitled Women and al Qaeda. The research team, headed by former Fletcher student Jennie Dow, contacted scholars and commissioned case studies on female terrorist activity.  This grant culminated in a major conference on April 10, 2007, which explored women’s specific roles inside terrorist organizations and their potential engagement in counter-terrorism efforts.  A stellar group of visiting experts spoke on two conference panels. Through this effort the Conference participants and other researchers involved with the project contributed pieces to a publication that will be released by the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in fall 2008.

On April 27, 2007, with the support of the Hudson Institute, the Jebsen Center hosted a conference entitled Islam in Democratic Societies: The Struggle Between Radical & Moderate Islam and the Future of Islam in the West. This student-driven conference explored the need for governments—particularly those in the West—to support moderate Muslim organizations and thinkers. On two panels, six prominent contemporary Muslim intellectuals both from Europe and the United States analyzed the current tensions with the Muslim world, focusing on Muslim communities in democratic, non-Muslim-majority counties.

Several research contracts secured by the Jebsen Center led to interesting projects. In December 2006 The Jebsen Center accepted a contract through an agency within the Department of Defense to explore the behavioral, psychological, and social factors that lead to terrorist activity.  Through the contract’s one-year term, Jebsen Center researchers gathered profiles of 237 terrorists and would-be terrorists, namely Sunni extremists and American anarchists.  In May 2007, The Jebsen Center joined with Sayres and Associates Corporation to develop the State and Local Intelligence Fusion initiative, which included a successful one-day conference open to Massachusetts’ federal, regional, state, and local law enforcement and intelligence community and a student-led research component on port security regulations. Also in September 2007, The Jebsen Center was awarded a contract from a fuel safety company to assess the cyber-terrorism activity devoted to the use of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) canisters and other gas products used as weapon components. The Center’s research team performed a survey of jihadist web activity, providing both general background on cyber-jihad and specific information on terrorist use of propane canisters and related products in training and support websites.  In January 2008, the Jebsen Center partnered with SYNEXXUS, Inc., a Virginia-based company providing technical expertise and engineering support to the defense, intelligence, and commercial sectors, to conduct directed research on selected countries in Africa. A team of student researchers explored stakeholders and other factors in the political and economic stability of several countries, which will be used to model U.S. foreign policy in the region.

In September 2007, the Jebsen Center once again received a grant from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which supported various research initiatives and student projects, including the Jebsen Center’s Countering Terrorism in Africa through Human Security Solutions conference held on February 28-29, 2008.  The Jebsen Center’s final public event, this two-day conference was co-sponsored by the Bradley Foundation, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University, the Institute for Human Security at The Fletcher School, and SYNEXXUS, Inc.  The conference explored the mutual concerns of development, human rights, and security professional working in a region that, due to poverty, civil violence, and mismanaged security interventions, may be susceptible to: influence and activity carried out by global terrorist networks such as al Qaeda and affiliated movements (AQAM); radicalization and the formation of independent violent terrorist cells; and the use of violent, civilian-focused terrorist tactics. Through three panels and two keynote addresses, the aim of the conference was to explore collaborative efforts to improve human security in Africa by addressing both development and security issues, which will hopefully help to improve conditions on the continent and, by extension, prevent terrorist networks from exploiting grievances and garnering support.

Throughout its three years of operation, the Jebsen Center consistently delivered support and programming to graduate students from The Fletcher School and beyond.  The Center hosted a series of smaller events for the Fletcher community, most notably its Brown Bag luncheon lecture series, an informal venue for the sharing of terrorism and counter-terrorism related research that featured Fletcher students, external academics, and professionals in security and counter-terrorism fields. Finally, the Center distributed more than $900,000 to approximately 50 graduate students in support of summer internships, directed study, and independent research in the security and counter-terrorism fields. Many of these students had their work distributed to policymakers, published in national academic and news publications, or presented at major conferences from 2005-2008.

Special Thanks

The Jebsen Center wishes to thank a number of people and institutions that contributed to its success.  The Center would not have existed without the generosity and vision of Jan Henrik Jebsen. Full-time staff members Russell Howard, Paula Broadwell, Stacy Neal, and Jeannine Lenehan were the Jebsen Center’s backbone. Jebsen Center Senior Fellows Zachary Abuza, Andrea Dew, John Ellis, and Rohan Gunaratna provided much-appreciated expertise and intellectual content to the Center and its various programs.

During its existence, several dedicated Fletcher student employees helped to both establish and grow the Center: Jennie Dow, Michael Hartnett, Jim O’Brien, Colleen Traughber, Iris Abraham, and Andrea Walther. Two Tufts undergraduates, Shawna Russo and Danielle Stein, also provided appreciated office support. The Jebsen Center would also like to thank the many Fletcher, Harvard, and MIT students who worked on specific Center projects and whose personal research it has funded over the past three years. Though too numerous to list individually, these student staffers and researchers—who enthusiastically and intelligently explored original issues in security and counter-terrorism studies—were the driving force behind the Jebsen Center, which at its core was devoted to enhancing student learning and research.

The Fletcher School at Tufts University was a gracious host to the Jebsen Center for its three years, and early support from International Security Studies Program (ISSP) Professors Robert Pfaltzgraff and Richard Shultz, as well as ISSP’s Frida Kilgallen, was essential in getting the Center up and running. Within the larger university, the Feinstein International Center at Tufts and the Institute for Human Security at Fletcher were wonderful partners in the Jebsen Center’s Africa initiative and conference. Fletcher and Tufts faculty, staff, and students were both an engaged audience and a source of energy and ideas for the Jebsen Center’s various activities and initiatives.

The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense, Sayres and Associates, SYNNEXUS, Inc., the Hudson Institute, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and the Institute for National Security Studies at the U.S. Air Force Academy provided the Center with key grants, contracts, sponsorships, and other support that made it possible for staff and students to pursue and distribute meaningful research. These monies contributed to many successful activities, including primary research, student projects, publications , and conferences.

Finally, the Jebsen Center would like to thank all those who provided funding, attended events, received research awards or products, and visited our website for information, publications, and e-newsletters. Your interest and support were essential to a successful and fruitful three years.