How to get on a Watchlist Episode 6: How to join an extremist group

In the latest installment of our new podcast, we sit down with Dr Muhammad Fraser-Rahim to discuss radicalisation and extremism, and how individuals find themselves recruited into extremist groups. Dr. Fraser-Rahim currently is Vice President, Global Intelligence, Resilience and Response Operations at Salesforce and is on faculty at the Citadel and Yale University as a Visiting Assistant Professor where he teaches a range of courses on intelligence, counterterrorism and deradicalization issues domestically and worldwide. He is also the former Executive Director, North America for Quilliam International, the world’s oldest counter-extremist organization, where he oversaw policy issues centering around rehabilitation, demobilization and deradicalization against violent extremism. He is an expert on violent extremism issues both domestically and overseas. He previously worked for the U.S. Institute of Peace leading their Horn of Africa programs as an expert on extremism. Dr. Fraser-Rahim worked for the U.S. government for more than a decade, including the Department of Homeland Security; Director of National Intelligence; and the National Counterterrorism Center providing strategic advice and executive branch analytical support on countering violent extremism issues. He also worked for the White House and the National Security Council where he was the author or co-author of Presidential Daily Briefs and strategic assessments on extremist ideology and counter-radicalization. Dr. Fraser-Rahim has conducted research in more than 40 countries on the African continent, and has worked and studied throughout the Middle East and is a Security Fellow at the Truman National Security Project. He completed his Ph.D at Howard University with a focus on African studies, Islamic intellectual history and security studies and is the author of the award winning book, Americas Other Muslims: Imam WD Mohammed, Islamic Reform and the Making of American Islam.

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How to Join an Extremist Group – How to get on a Watchlist In the latest installment of our new podcast, we sit down with Dr Muhammad Fraser-Rahim to discuss radicalisation and extremism, and how individuals find themselves recruited into extremist groups. Dr. Fraser-Rahim currently is Vice President, Global Intelligence, Resilience and Response Operations at Salesforce and is on faculty at the Citadel and Yale University as a Visiting Assistant Professor where he teaches a range of courses on intelligence, counterterrorism and deradicalization issues domestically and worldwide. He is also the former Executive Director, North America for Quilliam International, the world’s oldest counter-extremist organization, where he oversaw policy issues centering around rehabilitation, demobilization and deradicalization against violent extremism. He is an expert on violent extremism issues both domestically and overseas. He previously worked for the U.S. Institute of Peace leading their Horn of Africa programs as an expert on extremism. Dr. Fraser-Rahim worked for the U.S. government for more than a decade, including the Department of Homeland Security; Director of National Intelligence; and the National Counterterrorism Center providing strategic advice and executive branch analytical support on countering violent extremism issues. He also worked for the White House and the National Security Council where he was the author or co-author of Presidential Daily Briefs and strategic assessments on extremist ideology and counter-radicalization. Dr. Fraser-Rahim has conducted research in more than 40 countries on the African continent, and has worked and studied throughout the Middle East and is a Security Fellow at the Truman National Security Project. He completed his Ph.D at Howard University with a focus on African studies, Islamic intellectual history and security studies and is the author of the award winning book, Americas Other Muslims: Imam WD Mohammed, Islamic Reform and the Making of American Islam.

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Books and media mentioned during the episode, and suggestions for further research on this topic:

Additional geopolitical reading suggestions can be found on our 2022 reading list

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Lewis Sage-Passant is a Doctoral Researcher in the field of intelligence and former Military Intelligence Officer with extensive experience working and living in the Middle East and North Africa and Asia Pacific regions in a variety of geopolitical analysis, security & conflict risk and threat intelligence roles. Lewis specialises in geopolitical intelligence support to the oil & gas industry, the financial sector and leading technology firms.

Simon Schofield is a Deputy Director of the Human Security Centre, where he researches a broad range of security issues from terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and human rights issues. He has served as a geopolitical consultant for numerous news outlets including the BBC, RTE, and the International Business Times.

Additional credit goes to several unnamed members of the Encyclopedia Geopolitica team, as well as our colleagues in the intelligence and security community who helped to make this podcast possible