Daveed Gartenstein-Ross
Encyclopedia
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross is an American counter-terrorism expert and attorney living in Washington D.C. He is the Director of the Center for the Study of Terrorist Radicalization at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank. He frequently consults on counter-terrorism for various government agencies as well as the private sector. In 2011, Gartenstein-Ross wrote Bin Laden's Legacy: Why We're Still Losing the War on Terror published by John Wiley & Sons. Gartenstein-Ross’s new book reviews the first ten years of the U.S.’s “war on terror,” examining the evolution of al Qaeda’s strategy and arguing that America’s failure to understand it has led to grave strategic missteps. Georgetown University’s Bruce Hoffman has called Bin Laden’s Legacy “an important and timely work … one of the few books to probe systematically the movement’s strategy and its effect on the U.S. and its allies.”
. Gartenstein-Ross received his B.A. from Wake Forest University
, where he was a Nancy S. Reynolds Scholar and won the 1997 national championship in intercollegiate policy debate. He went on to earn a J.D. from the New York University School of Law
, where he was a member of the Law Review. Gartenstein-Ross was selected for the Claremont Institute's Lincoln Fellowship in 2007.
Gartenstein-Ross earned an MA in world politics at the Catholic University of America, where he is currently a PHD candidate.
for the DC Circuit, and was subsequently employed in a New York City
law firm. Following his work as a litigator, Gartenstein-Ross served at Steven Emerson
's Investigative Project on Terrorism and started his own counter-terrorism consulting business. In 2007 he began working as vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
. In 2010, he became the Director of the Center for the Study of Terrorist Radicalization there.
Gartenstein-Ross has published four monographs and co-edited the books From Energy Crisis to Energy Security and The Afghanistan-Pakistan Theater: Militant Islam, Security and Stability. His writings on the war on terror have been published widely, including in Middle East Quarterly
, The Atlantic, The Journal of International Security Affairs, Reader's Digest
, The Wall Street Journal Europe
, The Weekly Standard
, The Times of India
, and the National Post
.
His consulting work has included live hostage negotiations, work on border security issues, and story development for major media companies. He frequently leads training for the U.S. military and federal, state, and local law enforcement; in 2009 he received a Leader Development and Education for Sustained Peace Support Excellence Award from U.S. Army Central Command for this work. Gartenstein-Ross has also served as a Subject Matter Expert designing and delivering training for the U.S. State Department's Office of Antiterrorism Assistance, and was recently an expert witness in a successful asylum case where the asylee feared retribution from Somalia's al-Shabaab due to his family's support of the country's transitional federal government.
described the work as "an important study that adds to our knowledge of terrorist radicalization." He has also testified before the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
.
. He has presented his findings on al-Shabaab at events sponsored by U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), National Defense University, the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and the American Enterprise Institute.
Gartenstein-Ross has similarly contributed to the study of Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was one of the first analysts to warn of the re-emergence of a terrorist safe haven in Pakistan, and the dangers posed by peace deals that the Pakistani government cut with militants in 2006 and 2007—positions that were controversial at the time, but have developed into the consensus view. In 2010, with FDD President Clifford D. May
, the collected volume The Afghanistan-Pakistan Theater: Militant Islam, Security and Stability (FDD Press, 2010).
For his contributions in this area, Gartenstein-Ross is a regular lecturer for the Naval Postgraduate School
's Leader Development and Education for Sustained Peace (LDESP) courses, providing instruction to members of the U.S. military. The courses he has taught for this program include The History of Afghanistan, Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations, and Strategic Goals of Afghanistan’s Neighbors.
Peter Bergen, author of The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and Al Qaeda said that "Daveed Gartenstein-Ross has written an analytically sharp, fluidly written account of al Qaeda and its affiliates in the post-bin Laden er. It makes for sobering and essential reading." Clark Kent Ervin, former Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security said "this book is an important contribution to the post-bin Laden debate about how to fight terrorism smarter and cheaper at a time of constraints on America's power and purse."
While the book was widely received with positive reviews, there have been criticism of the feasibility of some of the policy prescriptions found in the final chapter.
friends, he converted to Islam
in his early twenties while in college. In 1999, after graduating from college, Gartenstein-Ross worked for the US head of the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, a Wahhabi charity that the US government now considers a Specially Designated Global Terrorist
Entity for their alleged material support
of Al-Qaeda
. Part of his job was to conduct prison outreach and to educate prisoners about what Al Haramain considered to be true Islam.
In 2000, he converted to Christianity
. After this, he assisted the Federal Bureau of Investigation
when they conducted their investigation of Al Haramain.
In February 2007, he released his first book, My Year Inside Radical Islam: A Memoir. In an article entitled "The First Openly Muslim Priest", Gartenstein-Ross shed light on his later views on religion, saying, "The highest purpose of interfaith dialogue is not to create some strange hybrid religion that reconciles two faiths that make competing truth claims. Rather, at its best, interfaith dialogue can help people build relationships of understanding, respect, and cooperation even though they adhere to faiths that cannot simultaneously be true."
Gartenstein-Ross has been described as a "conservative counterterrorism expert" and a "zealous foe to Islamism." Despite these labels, Gartenstein-Ross has taken several positions contrary to many conservatives. In early 2010, after President Barack Obama
announced the U.S. envoy to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Rashad Hussain
, Gartenstein-Ross wrote:
Shortly after, Marc Lynch
posted his perspective of the "smear campaign" against Hussain and cited Gartenstein-Ross' article:
Also in early 2010, Gartenstein-Ross came to the defense of Erroll Southers
following President Obama's nomination of Southers to head the Transportation Security Administration
(TSA). Gartenstein-Ross wrote:
Background and education
Born to non-practicing Jewish parents who followed a medley of religious teachings, he grew up in Ashland, OregonAshland, Oregon
Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other...
. Gartenstein-Ross received his B.A. from Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University is a private, coeducational university in the U.S. state of North Carolina, founded in 1834. The university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina, the state capital. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, is...
, where he was a Nancy S. Reynolds Scholar and won the 1997 national championship in intercollegiate policy debate. He went on to earn a J.D. from the New York University School of Law
New York University School of Law
The New York University School of Law is the law school of New York University. Established in 1835, the school offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in law, and is located in Greenwich Village, in the New York City borough of Manhattan....
, where he was a member of the Law Review. Gartenstein-Ross was selected for the Claremont Institute's Lincoln Fellowship in 2007.
Gartenstein-Ross earned an MA in world politics at the Catholic University of America, where he is currently a PHD candidate.
Career
After law school Gartenstein-Ross worked as a law clerk on the United States Court of AppealsUnited States court of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
for the DC Circuit, and was subsequently employed in a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
law firm. Following his work as a litigator, Gartenstein-Ross served at Steven Emerson
Steven Emerson
Steven Emerson, is an American journalist and author, who writes about national security, terrorism, and Islamic extremism.Emerson is the author of six books, and co-author of two more. His television documentary Jihad in America won the 1994 George Polk Award for best Television Documentary, and...
's Investigative Project on Terrorism and started his own counter-terrorism consulting business. In 2007 he began working as vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies describes itself as a non-profit, non-partisan policy institute "working to defend free nations against their enemies". It was founded shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks to address what it regards as the "threat facing America, Israel and the...
. In 2010, he became the Director of the Center for the Study of Terrorist Radicalization there.
Gartenstein-Ross has published four monographs and co-edited the books From Energy Crisis to Energy Security and The Afghanistan-Pakistan Theater: Militant Islam, Security and Stability. His writings on the war on terror have been published widely, including in Middle East Quarterly
Middle East Quarterly
Middle East Quarterly is a peer reviewed quarterly journal, a publication of the American conservative think tank Middle East Forum founded by Daniel Pipes in 1994. It is devoted to subjects relating to the Middle East and Islam and analyzes the region "explicitly from the viewpoint of American...
, The Atlantic, The Journal of International Security Affairs, Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
, The Wall Street Journal Europe
The Wall Street Journal Europe
The Wall Street Journal Europe is a daily English-language newspaper that covers global and regional business news for Europe, the Middle East and Africa...
, The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative opinion magazine published 48 times per year. Its founding publisher, News Corporation, debuted the title September 18, 1995. Currently edited by founder William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the Standard has been described as a "redoubt of...
, The Times of India
The Times of India
The Times of India is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. TOI has the largest circulation among all English-language newspaper in the world, across all formats . It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd...
, and the National Post
National Post
The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
.
His consulting work has included live hostage negotiations, work on border security issues, and story development for major media companies. He frequently leads training for the U.S. military and federal, state, and local law enforcement; in 2009 he received a Leader Development and Education for Sustained Peace Support Excellence Award from U.S. Army Central Command for this work. Gartenstein-Ross has also served as a Subject Matter Expert designing and delivering training for the U.S. State Department's Office of Antiterrorism Assistance, and was recently an expert witness in a successful asylum case where the asylee feared retribution from Somalia's al-Shabaab due to his family's support of the country's transitional federal government.
Study of radicalization
Gartenstein-Ross co-authored two major reports in 2009, Homegrown Terrorists in the U.S. and U.K. and Terrorism in the West 2008. The former is an empirical examination of the radicalization process in 117 homegrown jihadi terrorists that provides a new framework for understanding the impact of religious ideology. Brian Michael JenkinsBrian Michael Jenkins
Brian Michael Jenkins, born in 1942 in Chicago, is an expert on terrorism and transportation security. During his nearly four decades of analysis, Jenkins has advised governments, private corporations, the Catholic Church, the Church of England, and many other international organizations on...
described the work as "an important study that adds to our knowledge of terrorist radicalization." He has also testified before the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
The United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has jurisdiction over matters related to the Department of Homeland Security and other homeland security concerns, as well as the functioning of the government itself, including the National Archives, budget and...
.
Regional studies
Gartenstein-Ross also studies geographic regions where jihadist groups pose a major challenge. For example, among Gartenstein-Ross’s various publications on Somalia, he authored one of the first analyses of the jihadist group al-Shabaab to appear in a peer-reviewed journal: “The Strategic Challenge of Somalia’s al-Shabaab” in the Fall 2009 issue of Middle East Quarterly. Gartenstein-Ross’s writings on Shabaab trace the evolution of Islamism in the Somali state, examine distinctive aspects of Shabaab’s ideology and strategy, and analyze the developing relationship between Shabaab and al-QaedaAl-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
. He has presented his findings on al-Shabaab at events sponsored by U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), National Defense University, the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and the American Enterprise Institute.
Gartenstein-Ross has similarly contributed to the study of Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was one of the first analysts to warn of the re-emergence of a terrorist safe haven in Pakistan, and the dangers posed by peace deals that the Pakistani government cut with militants in 2006 and 2007—positions that were controversial at the time, but have developed into the consensus view. In 2010, with FDD President Clifford D. May
Clifford May
Clifford D. May is an American journalist, editor, and political activist. He is the president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a conservative policy institute created shortly after the 9/11 attacks, and the Chairman of the Policy Committee department within the Committee on the...
, the collected volume The Afghanistan-Pakistan Theater: Militant Islam, Security and Stability (FDD Press, 2010).
For his contributions in this area, Gartenstein-Ross is a regular lecturer for the Naval Postgraduate School
Naval Postgraduate School
The Naval Postgraduate School is an accredited research university operated by the United States Navy. Located in Monterey, California, it grants master's degrees, Engineer's degrees and doctoral degrees...
's Leader Development and Education for Sustained Peace (LDESP) courses, providing instruction to members of the U.S. military. The courses he has taught for this program include The History of Afghanistan, Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations, and Strategic Goals of Afghanistan’s Neighbors.
Bin Laden's Legacy
In 2011, Gartenstein-Ross wrote Bin Laden's Legacy: Why We're Still Losing the War on Terror. The central argument of the book is that in the decade since 9/11, the U.S. has grown weaker: It has been bogged down by costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gartenstein-Ross argues that the U.S. has spent billions of dollars on security to protect air travel and other transport, as well as the homeland more generally while much of this money has been channeled into efforts that are inefficient by design and highly bureaucratic due to a lack of coordination between and among the government and an array of contractors making it difficult to evaluate the return on the enormous investment that we have made in national security. Gartenstein-Ross details the strategic missteps the U.S. has made in the fight against al Qaeda, a group that U.S. planners never really took the time to understand. He argues it is for this reason that America's responses to the terrorist threat have often unwittingly helped al Qaeda achieve its goals.Peter Bergen, author of The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and Al Qaeda said that "Daveed Gartenstein-Ross has written an analytically sharp, fluidly written account of al Qaeda and its affiliates in the post-bin Laden er. It makes for sobering and essential reading." Clark Kent Ervin, former Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security said "this book is an important contribution to the post-bin Laden debate about how to fight terrorism smarter and cheaper at a time of constraints on America's power and purse."
While the book was widely received with positive reviews, there have been criticism of the feasibility of some of the policy prescriptions found in the final chapter.
Religion and politics
Impressed by the religious devotion of his MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
friends, he converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
in his early twenties while in college. In 1999, after graduating from college, Gartenstein-Ross worked for the US head of the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, a Wahhabi charity that the US government now considers a Specially Designated Global Terrorist
Specially Designated Global Terrorist
Specially Designated Global Terrorist is a designation authorized under U.S. Executive Order 13224 , among other executive orders, and Title 31, Parts 595, 596, and 597 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, among other U.S. laws and regulations. SDGT designations are administered and enforced...
Entity for their alleged material support
Providing material support for terrorism
Providing material support for terrorism is a provision of the USA PATRIOT Act which prohibits material support to groups designated as terrorists. The four types of support described are “training,” “expert advice or assistance,” “service,” and “personnel.” In June 2010 the United States Supreme...
of Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
. Part of his job was to conduct prison outreach and to educate prisoners about what Al Haramain considered to be true Islam.
In 2000, he converted to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. After this, he assisted the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
when they conducted their investigation of Al Haramain.
In February 2007, he released his first book, My Year Inside Radical Islam: A Memoir. In an article entitled "The First Openly Muslim Priest", Gartenstein-Ross shed light on his later views on religion, saying, "The highest purpose of interfaith dialogue is not to create some strange hybrid religion that reconciles two faiths that make competing truth claims. Rather, at its best, interfaith dialogue can help people build relationships of understanding, respect, and cooperation even though they adhere to faiths that cannot simultaneously be true."
Gartenstein-Ross has been described as a "conservative counterterrorism expert" and a "zealous foe to Islamism." Despite these labels, Gartenstein-Ross has taken several positions contrary to many conservatives. In early 2010, after President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
announced the U.S. envoy to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Rashad Hussain
Rashad Hussain
Rashad Hussain , is an American attorney, and U.S. Special Envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation , an intergovernmental group with 57 member states. Hussain, a Muslim of Indian heritage, has served in the White House Counsel's Office, and in his role as Envoy, has advised the...
, Gartenstein-Ross wrote:
- "He is not only beset by criticism for a quote he has admitted to making about the prosecution of Sami al-Arian in 2004 (at the age of 24) but also by insinuations and accusations about his participation in, as Cal Thomas calls them, "events connected with the Muslim Brotherhood." Much of the criticism has taken on a crude sensationalistic tone. The American Thinker calls Rashad "pro-jihadist" and the Jawa Report calls him a "terrorist sympathizer," while Brad Blakeman argued in a Fox News appearance that Rashad has "more in common with our enemies than what we stand for as a nation." Most directly, Pamela Geller suggests that Rashad Hussain is a "jihadist in the White House." I write to provide a different perspective on Rashad Hussain's views and character."
Shortly after, Marc Lynch
Marc Lynch
Marc Lynch is an "Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs" at The George Washington University, where he is also director of both the Institute for Middle East Studies and the Middle East Studies Program. Lynch is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Center for a New...
posted his perspective of the "smear campaign" against Hussain and cited Gartenstein-Ross' article:
- "The bright spot in this sordid affair has been the willingness of a few national security experts on the hawkish side of the spectrum to stand up in public and denounce the railroading of Hussain. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, wrote a powerful personal defense of Hussein as primarily motivated by civil liberties concerns, not by Islamism. He took that defense on TV, where he had to face the wild-eyed insanity of Frank Gaffney (apparently, memorizing the Quran is evidence of extremism) and to confront head-on the madness of the anti-Islamic post-9/11 fringe. Some other conservative national security experts rose to Gartenstein-Ross's defense -- I'll single out Max Boot and Eli Lake, though they certainly aren't the only ones. For others, well, welcome to the Islamofascist stealth jihad, ya Daveed."
Also in early 2010, Gartenstein-Ross came to the defense of Erroll Southers
Erroll Southers
Erroll G. Southers is an expert in transportation security and counterterrorism. He is currently the assistant chief of the Los Angeles World Airports Police Department's Office of Homeland Security and Intelligence and the associate director of the University of Southern California's Center for...
following President Obama's nomination of Southers to head the Transportation Security Administration
Transportation Security Administration
The Transportation Security Administration is an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that exercises authority over the safety and security of the traveling public in the United States....
(TSA). Gartenstein-Ross wrote:
- "The controversy surrounding President Obama's nomination of Erroll Southers to head TSA has been growing. The latest salvo in the attacks on Southers is that he is soft on terrorism. This charge originated with a post by Erick Erickson at RedState entitled "The Man Who Would Keep Us Safe From Terrorists Would Rather Focus on Baptists Than Islamic Terrorists." Since then, some of the claims in Erickson's piece have been amplified by major media such as Fox News, and have also been widely circulated on the blogs. Today Americans for Limited Government chimed in by calling for Obama to withdraw his nomination of Southers for "equating pro-life, Christian, and anti-government Americans to real terrorists." The attacks against Southers are off base, demonstrably so. Southers is a serious and well-qualified security professional who would make an excellent head of TSA, and who would make our country safer in that role."