Dr. Rohan Gunaratna, Jebsen Center Senior Fellow for Counter-Terrorism Studies

Dr. Rohan Gunaratna is a Jebsen Center Senior Fellow for Counter-Terrorism Studies. He has more than 20 years of policy, operational, and academic experience in counter-terrorism, and applies that expertise to the Jebsen Center’s innovative focus on the prediction, prevention, and preemption of future terrorist activities.

Dr. Gunaratna is Head of Terrorism Research, Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Singapore; Senior Fellow, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point; and Honorary Fellow, International Policy Institute for Counter Terrorism, Israel.

He holds a master’s degree in international peace studies from University of Notre Dame (U.K.) and a doctorate in international relations from St Andrews (U.K.). He was Visiting Scholar, Office of Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (1994); Foreign Policy Fellow, Center for International and Security Studies, University of Maryland (1995); Hesburgh Scholar, Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame (1996); British Chevening Scholar, Department of International Relations, University of St Andrews (1996-1999); Fellow, Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, Scotland (2000-2003); and Visiting Rosen Fellow, Washington Institute (2003).

He led the specialist team that designed and built the United Nations database on the mobility, finance, and weapons of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their entities. He was invited to testify on the structure of Al Qaeda before the 9-11 Commission, and serves as a consultant to the World Terrorism Encyclopaedia. He is the author of eight books, including Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror (Columbia University Press, New York), an international bestseller, and the lead author of Jane’s Counter Terrorism. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2002.

Research Briefing Series Vol. 1, No. 1 (December 2006): "Strategic Counter-Terrorism: Part 1 Understanding the Threat" here.

isrkgunaratna@ntu.edu.sg