Glenn Carle Speaks to Pardee Students on Counterterrorism
Glenn Carle, the author of The Interrogator: An Education and a retired CIA operations officer, visited the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University on November 29, 2017 to give a presentation to students in IR 516, Intelligence and Homeland Security, taught by John D. Woodward, Jr., Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Pardee School.
Carle, who served overseas and in Washington, DC during his career, was the Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Transnational Threats on the National Intelligence Council. He drew on his extensive intelligence and counterterrorism experiences to advance the argument that while terrorism is a concern, it is not an existential threat to the United States, and that contrary to media hype, the U.S. homeland since 9/11 has remained relatively safe from foreign inspired terrorism.
Carle also explained that the use of force to counterterrorism is necessary but that the fundamental problems of terrorism require a much more holistic approach to combating terrorist organizations. This approach should address, or at the very least acknowledge, the underlying factors of destabilizing cultural and sociological stresses that contribute to the radicalization process, coupled with a more practical evaluation of the current status and tactics of such organizations. He argued this approach would lead to more effective and substantive U.S. actions not only with U.S. homeland security but in the Middle East and worldwide.
Carle challenged the students to think in terms of public policy tradeoffs: For example, he noted that domestic gun violence is a much more significantly greater threat to Americans than ISIS or Al Qaeda inspired attacks. Yet we really do little to prevent gun violence.
Hallie Coyne , a Pardee School junior in the course, said that in her view, “Glenn Carle presented a powerful argument for reassessing the relative severity of the existential threat posed by radical Islamist terrorist organizations to the United States.”
Diana Atoui, a BU junior, said that Carle “provided a fresh and new perspective on issues in the Middle East. He spoke the truth on why America really went to war in Iraq and that the public is told lies. He made you realize that even well trained professionals assume that anyone is a terrorist if they are in distant or third party communications with a terrorist organization.”