Woodward Participates in Global Counterterrorism Forum
John D. Woodward, Jr., Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was invited by the governments of Morocco and the United States, co-chairs of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF)’s Terrorist Travel Initiative, to participate as a subject matter expert at GCTF meetings held May 2-3, 2019 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
28 nations, ASEAN, the United Nations, and Interpol sent delegations to the forum. Woodward addressed the group on the topic of using biometrics for counterterrorism purposes, drawing on his previous experiences as Director of the U.S. Department of Defense Biometrics.
Launched in 2011, the GCTF is a multilateral counterterrorism platform that works to strengthen the international architecture for addressing 21st century terrorism. Central to the forum’s mission is the promotion of a strategic, long-term approach to counter terrorism and the violent extremist ideologies that underpin it.
Woodward is a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who, during his twenty-year CIA career, served as an operations officer in the Clandestine Service and as a technical intelligence officer in the Directorate of Science and Technology, with assignments in Washington D.C., East Asia, Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. He also served as the Director of the U.S. Department of Defense Biometrics Management Office from 2003-2005 where he received the Army’s third highest civilian award for his work on using biometric technologies to identify national security threats.