Georgetown University

Georgetown University
Type	university
Subgroups	Center for Peace and Security Studies
Interests	“terrorism”
Sponsored by	ClimateWorks, Democracy Fund, Hewlett Foundation, Open Philanthropy
Subpage	•Georgetown University/Law Center

N.B. This page relates to Georgetown University’s terrorism related activities.

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Georgetown University is a private university based in Washington DC. It is one of the most important education institutions in the world of terrorism expertise. Some of the most prominent ‘terrorism experts’ have studied and/or taught there and until July 1987 it housed the highly influential CSIS. In her study of the terrorism research field, Edna Reid describes how terrorism research at Georgetown University and its Center for Strategic and International Studies developed over the years in collaboration with other right-wing research centres and think-tanks:

During the 1970s, governments, international organizations, and research centers such as the RAND Corporation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Georgetown University, and the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University…sponsored numerous terrorism conferences, research projects, specialized anthologies, study groups, and official inquiries into terrorism. The efforts helped to nurture terrorism research and create numerous forums which allowed cross-fertilization of ideas, sharing of resources, and creation of an invisible college of terrorism researchers.

CSIS

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) emerged from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service (see below) at the height of the cold war. It was founded in 1962 by Arleigh Burke, who had just served three terms as US Chief of Naval Operations and David Abshire, a West Point graduate who had studied his PhD at Georgetown. The Center became a hub of Cold War propaganda and later developed into an important center of terrorism studies. During the 1980s the semi-permanent terrorism experts at CSIS were Michael Ledeen, Walter Laqueur, Robert H. Kupperman and Ray Cline, but Yonah Alexander, Claire Sterling, Paul Henze, Arnaud de Borchgrave, and Robert Moss were also occasional participants in CSIS's activities bearing on terrorism.

The link between Georgetown and CSIS was severed after the university launched a committee to evaluate the centre in 1986. That year The Washington Post reported concerns that CSIS had focused too much on its media presence whilst producing poor scholarship. Whilst the Center itself moved elsewhere, some of the CSIS men remained with the university. Anthony H. Cordesman still a strategic analyst at CSIS, remained an associate professor at Georgetown until very recently, and CSIS founder David Abshire remained an adjunct professor at Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service for many years. He was awarded an honorary degree by Georgetown in 2006.

CSIS became the think tank where most out-of-office intelligence officers congregated. During the Carter presidency, Stansfield Turner was appointed to head the CIA, and one of his primary activities was to get rid of the ultra-right-wing personnel, e.g., Cuban exiles, right-wing ideologues, or those involved in illegal covert activities. The more educated of the fired bunch ended at CSIS where the brooded and plotted to regain their previous posts or influence. During this time CSIS fellows were the source for many articles meant to fan the Cold War fears or indicate that the current intelligence efforts were not "defending America". Robert Moss and de Borchgrave published The Spike, a book which was basically the CSIS's Cold Warriors' fantasies. After the Carter's defeat and Reagan's accession to office, most of the CSIS Cold Warriors returned to the intelligence agencies, or principal roles within the government.

The Edmund Walsh School

Although the CSIS link was severed over twenty years ago, Georgetown continues to be a centre of ‘terrorism expertise’, pro-government propaganda and rightwing ideology. The bundle of ‘experts’ at Georgetown are mostly connected to its Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, which was the birthplace of CSIS. The School was founded in 1919 by the college dean, a Catholic priest and fanatical anti-communist called Edmund Walsh, who whilst at Georgetown had worked at the US War Department on a programme “designed to mobilise higher education’s resources for the war effort”. Walsh is described by his biographer as a “proponent of American exceptionalism” who “viewed the [American] nation as a beacon of liberty and equality for the world.” During the 1930s Walsh publicly opposed Roosevelt’s New Deal measures and during the cold war he endorsed a nuclear first strike on the basis that the Soviet were inherently immoral. Expressing an ideological zeal common amongst neo-conservatives today, Walsh advocated what he called “the argument of strength justly and righteously employed.

Center for Peace and Security Studies

Today a particular focal point for terrorism experts within the School of Foreign Service is the Center for Peace and Security Studies. Established in 2000 by Michael E. Brown, the Center’s declared mission is to ‘create a hub where the academic and policy communities meet’ The Center’s founder left to join George Washington University in 2005 and since then the Center has been headed by terrorism expert Daniel Byman. Byman is currently an expert at the Brookings Institution and previously spent five years at the RAND Corporation. One of Byman’s colleagues at the Center Bruce Hoffman is perhaps the most significant addition to Georgetown’s staff in recent years. Hoffman, whose employment at Georgetown was announced on 12 July 2006, is also a former RAND analyst. He helped set up the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrews University and is one of America’s most high profile terrorism experts. The Center for Peace and Security Studies also houses Paul Pillar, a former CIA analyst, prolific media pundit and Brookings Institution analyst.

Terrorism Research Center

An independent institution with strong affiliations to Georgetown is the Terrorism Research Center, a company funding largely by US government contacts with close associations with a number of corporate security companies. The Terrorism Research Center was founded in 1996 by Matthew Devost and Neal Pollard, both of whom are still adjunct facility members at Georgetown. The Center’s staff are made up almost entirely of Georgetown graduates. DFI International, which worked on a major government contract with the Terrorism Research Center was founded by Barry Blechman who studied his PhD at Georgetown and also taught there for a time.

Other Adjunct terrorism professors at Georgetown

• Roger Cressey, former Clinton advisor and founder of the corporate security company Good Harbor Consulting.

• Seth Jones, a RAND analyst who has a substantial media presence particularly on Afghanistan.

• Justine Rosenthal, Director of the Council on Global Terrorism and executive editor of The National Interest.

• Michael Scheuer former CIA analyst now a news analyst for CBS News and a terrorism analyst for the Jamestown Foundation's online publication Global Terrorism Analysis.

• Steve Simon, a terrorologist with the Council on Foreign Relations and a former RAND analyst.

More former staff, students and other connections

The rightwing ideologue Jeane Kirkpatrick taught at Georgetown for many years, and security consultant and lobbyist Neil Livingstone once served as an adjunct professor in Georgetown University's National Security Studies Program. Judith C. Areen, the current Dean of Georgetown University’s Law Center is a Non-Executive Director at the corporate security company Kroll Inc which has been involved in counter-terrorism. Several other prominent ‘terrorism experts’ are known to have studied at Georgetown. These include Mia Bloom, author of Dying to kill: the allure of suicide terror, Michael Noone a collaborator of Walter Laqueur, and the amateurish cyber-terrorism 'expert' Evan Kohlmann.

 

Events carried out

Event	Location	Description
A Spreading Plague	Germany Munich Munich Security Conference/2019	Tabletop simulation of a global biological warfare attack predicting an apocalyptic outcome. Included several senior pandemic planners. Held February 2019.
Preventing Global Catastrophic Biological Risks	Germany Munich Security Conference Munich	Simulation of a global influenza pandemic predicting an apocalyptic outcome. Held February 2020, with a who-is-who of pandemic planners. Held February 2020.

 

Related Quotation

Page	Quote	Author	Date
Brussels Forum/2010	“Some of us think of José Manuel Barroso as a former scholar at Georgetown University in Washington.”	Craig Kennedy German Marshall Fund	March 2010

 

Group

Group	Start
McDonough School of Business	1957

 

Employees on Wikispooks

Employee	Job	Appointed	End
Jeff Bergner	Adjunct professor at the National Security Studies Program
John Gannon	Adjunct Professor	September 2004
Larry Gostin	Associate dean for research	2004	2008
Phillip Karber	Academic	1978
Kenneth M. Pollack	Adjunct professor	2004

 

Sponsors

Event	Description
ClimateWorks	Large funder of projects intended to steer public opinion and take control over all government policy under the pretext of fighting climate change. Part of "a blob" of similar very wealthy interconnected foundations with opaque structures. Backers include Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg.
Democracy Fund	Finances numerous organizations as part of effort to control the narrative. Founded by Pierre Omidyar in 2011.
Hewlett Foundation	Huge foundation setting the agenda by funding lots of deep state projects.
Open Philanthropy	Grant maker funneling deep state money among other things to pandemic planning. Financed Event 201.

 

Alumni on Wikispooks

Person	Born	Died	Nationality	Summary	Description
Jack Abramoff	28 February 1958			Lobbyist Businessperson	Convicted lobbyist and founder of the International Freedom Foundation
Ziad Abu-Amr	1950		Palestine	Author Politician	Double Bilderberger Palestinian leader who attended Georgetown
David Addington	22 January 1957			War criminal	The "most powerful man you’ve never heard of" (2006) who was an energetic supporter of torture under George W. Bush.
John Allen	15 December 1953		US	Spook Soldier Deep state operative	A Retired US Marine Corps 4 star General
Roger Altman	2 April 1946		US	Banker	US Banker, Bilderberg Steering Committee
Ali Aslan	1977		Germany	Journalist Deep state operative	Spooky journalist, Georgetown University, many deep state ties
Robert Baer	1 July 1952		US	Spook	American author and former CIA operative; some very interesting stuff, some suspected misdirection.
Elizabeth Frawley Bagley	13 July 1952			Diplomat Lawyer Deep state actor	American diplomat who has been closely associated with the Clintons since Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. Big donor to the Clinton Foundation. Member of the Board of Directors of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.
Steve Bannon	27 November 1953			Businessperson	Executive chairman of Breitbart News, at one time alleged Trump mastermind
José Manuel Barroso	23 March 1956		Portugal	Deep state operative	Bilderberg Steering committee, President of the European Commission
Hunter Biden	4 February 1970		US	Lawyer Businessperson	Second son of the deep state actor, Joe Biden.
Kurt Biedenkopf	28 January 1930	12 August 2021	Germany	Politician	West German politician "parachuted" into the former East Germany to lead the state of Saxony.
David Bowdich			US	Spook Police officer	Deputy Director of the FBI 2018-2021, Georgetown alumnus
Sundaa Bridgett-Jones			US	Deep state functionary	Rockefeller Foundation allied deep state functionary, Georgetown alumna
Tania Bryer	5 July 1962		UK	Journalist TV presenter	British broadcaster in Epstein's black book.
Pat Buchanan	2 November 1938		US	Author Speechwriter Pundit	American Conservative author, syndicated columnist, and television commentator.
Jack Caravelli	1952	31 October 2019	US	Spook	Suspected US Deep state operative, CIA, Georgetown, University
Robert Cardillo			US	Spook	Director of the large National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
Paul Clement	24 June 1966			Lawyer	Solicitor General of the United States 2004-2008, Georgetown alumnus
Bill Clinton	19 August 1946		US	Spook Politician Lawyer Deep politician	US deep politician, husband of Hillary Clinton, “every bit as corrupt as Nixon, but a lot smoother”
Charles Cook	20 November 1953		US	Political analyst	CFR. Election forecast analyst who attended his first Bilderberg meeting in 2018.
Lawrence H. Cooke	15 October 1914	17 August 2000		Judge	Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1979 to 1984
Herbert Cordt	12 January 1947		Austria	Businessperson	"In attendance" at the Bilderberg as an Economic Advisor to the Federal Minister of Finance
Ivo Daalder	2 March 1960			Diplomat Deep state operative	USDSO who co-authored Protecting the American Homeland - A Preliminary Analysis, a book published in 2002 by the Brookings Institution about 9/11
Mitchell Daniels	7 April 1949		US	Politician Deep state functionary Big pharma/Lobbyist	Attended the 2012 Bilderberg as Governor of Indiana
John Dean	14 October 1938			Lawyer	A key witness for the prosecution during the Watergate Coup
Edward Djerejian	6 March 1939			Diplomat	US Ambassador to Israel 1993-1994, US Ambassador to Syria 1998-1991...
Tyler Drumheller	12 April 1952	2 August 2015	US	Spook	Former chief of the CIA covert operations in Europe
Joseph Dunford	23 December 1955			Soldier	Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 2015-2019
Saagar Enjeti				Podcaster	An American "young pundit on the rise" - with connections to the national security state
Noura Erakat	16 January 1980			Activist Academic
Mary Erdoes	13 August 1967		US	Financier Millionaire	Money manager for JPMorgan Chase. Georgetown, CFR, Bilderberg.
Jay Freres	1934	19 June 2015		Diplomat Spook 9-11/Premature death	USDSO who pressured Michael Springman to give visas in Jaddah. Supposed victim of a lightning strike.
Frank Gaffney	5 April 1953			Author Editor Neoconservatism	Described as "one of America’s most notorious Islamophobes"
Robert Gates	25 September 1943			Spook Deep state actor	US deep state actor and spook
Jeffrey Gedmin	1958			Academic Neoconservatism	US spooky/hawkish neoconservative academic
Stuart M. Gerson	16 January 1944			Lawyer	Scting United States Attorney General in 1994, including in the beginning of the Waco Siege.
Tatiana Gfoeller	1960		US	Diplomat	US diplomat with an awareness of U.S. foreign policy interests in the Caspian Basin and Central Asia
Rose Gottemoeller	24 March 1953				Spooky US diplomat
Jakub Grygiel	4 March 1972		US	Spook Academic	US academic who collaborated with the Integrity Initiative
Alexander Haig	2 December 1924	20 February 2010	US	Soldier Civil servant	Attended the 1978 Bilderberg as SACEUR
Philip Hart	10 December 1912	26 December 1976		Lawyer	US Senator who was strong supporter of civil rights, anti-trust legislation and consumer and environmental protection. Member of Church Committee. Died of cancer soon after.
Mazie Hirono	3 November 1947		US	Politician	US Democratic politician
Karl William Hofmann	6 April 1961		US	Diplomat	Career diplomat on National Security Council, changed to Gates-funded family planning organization
Samuel M. Hoskinson				Spook	National Intelligence Council, then Bechtel and lobbyism
Tom Inglesby			US		Very influential proponent of extensive Covid-19 lockdown measures
Nina Jankowicz	10 March 1989		US	Spook Propagandist Censorship Deep state operative	An Integrity Initiative's Inner Core member who styled herself "The Mary Poppins of disinformation", nominal head of a US DoDS internet censorship project in 2022 which was disbanded amid condemnation and ridicule. In 2024 she resurfaced as head of the "American Sunlight Project".
Pramila Jayapal	21 September 1965		US		US politician
Bonnie Jenkins	1960		US	Diplomat	Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs under Joe Biden
James R. Jones	5 May 1939		US	Diplomat Lawyer	US Deep state connected diplomat
... further results

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