U.S. Institute of Peace Launches Bipartisan Task Force on Extremism in Fragile States

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May 29, 2018, 04:03 ET

WASHINGTON, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On May 29, 2018 the United States Institute of Peace convened the first meeting of a congressionally-mandated, bipartisan task force of leading defense, diplomacy and development experts to prevent terrorist threats from emerging in fragile states following the defeat of the Islamic State.

The Task Force on Extremism in Fragile States, officially launched in April of 2018, will develop recommendations to more effectively prevent the underlying causes of extremism in fragile states, including burden-sharing approaches with international partners.

The Task Force is co-chaired by Governor Tom Kean and Congressman Lee Hamilton, the former chair and vice chair, respectively, of the 9/11 Commission.

"We have succeeded in preventing another terrorist attack on the scale of 9/11 in the United States, but it is impossible to conclude that we are winning the fight against terrorism globally," said Governor Tom Kean.

"This Task Force seeks a unified, sustained, and comprehensive strategy to stop a new generation of extremists, and to galvanize the political will to implement it," said Congressman Lee Hamilton. This effort builds on a 2017 Bipartisan Policy Center study, led by Kean and Hamilton, which evaluated U.S. counterterrorism policy, found it insufficient, and urged a new strategy targeting the root causes of extremism.

Congress, led by Senator Lindsey Graham, requested that USIP, as an independent, federal, nonpartisan leader in preventing conflict, help prepare this new approach.

After consulting with government, civil society, the private sector, and international experts, the Task Force will release, by late 2018, recommendations for addressing the conditions in fragile states that give rise to extremism.

Task Force members include:

Secretary Madeleine Albright, Chair, Albright Stonebridge Group
Senator Kelly Ayotte, Board of Directors, BAE Systems, Inc.
Ambassador William Burns, President, The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Ambassador Johnnie Carson, Senior Advisor to the President, USIP
Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, Director of the U.S.-Asia Security Initiative, Stanford University
Mr. John Gannon, Adjunct Professor at the Center for Security Studies, Georgetown University
The Honorable Stephen Hadley, Chair of the Board of Directors, USIP
Mr. Farooq Kathwari, CEO and President, Ethan Allen Interiors Inc.
The Honorable Dina Powell, Former Deputy National Security Advisor
Dr. Rajiv Shah, President, The Rockefeller Foundation
Mr. Michael Singh, Senior Fellow and Managing Director, The Washington Institute