Terrorexpertise:Major World Newspapers - Affiliations Analysis

Below is a table detailing the known affiliations of the 100 experts from the Major World Newspapers List. The table is followed by analysis of this data.

Past and Present Affiliations of Experts from the Major World Newspapers List

Terror Experts
Column A: Tenure at academic institution
Column B: Employee of Private Security/Intelligence firm
Column C: Member of government or law enforcement agency
Column D: Member of military or intelligence services
Column E: Member of private think-tanks or research institute
Column F: Media employee or independent journalist (not including contract work)
No.	Name of Expert	A	B	C	D	E	F
1	Rohan Gunaratna	×		×		×
2	Noam Chomsky	×
3	Sidney Jones					×
4	Clive Williams	×			×	×
5	Francis Fukuyama	×
6	Daniel Pipes	×				×
7	Paul Wilkinson	×			×	×
8	Jason Burke						×
9	Avi Dichter			×	×	×
10	Anthony Cordesman	×		×		×
11	Alan Dershowitz	×
12	Bruce Hoffman	×				×
13	Peter Bergen					×	×
14	Robert Baer				×
15	Arnaud de Borchgrave				×	×	×
16	Michael Clarke	×				×
17	Jonathan Evans				×
18	Magnus Ranstorp		×			×
19	Irwin Cotler	×		×		×
20	Daniel Benjamin			×		×	×
21	Michael Scheuer				×	×
22	Zachary Abuza	×				×
23	David Capitanchik	×
24	John Thompson				×	×
25	Simon Reeve						×
26	Wesley Wark	×
27	Frances Townsend			×
28	David Charters	×
29	Kevin Toolis						×
30	Tariq Ramadan	×				×
31	Steve Emerson					×	×
32	Steve Simon	×				×
33	Paul Beaver		×		×	×	×
34	Larry Johnson		×	×	×
35	Brian Jenkins		×		×
36	Rita Katz				×	×
37	David Wright-Neville	×		×	×
38	Olivier Roy	×				×
39	Michael Ledeen				×	×
40	Robert Pape	×
41	Lawrence Eagleburger			×		×
42	Boaz Ganor				×	×
43	Paul Rogers	×				×
44	Mike Yardley				×		×
45	Fouad Ajami	×				×
46	Paul Pillar	×			×	×
47	Conor Cruise O'Brien			×			×
48	Jessica Stern	×				×
49	Patrick Clawson					×
50	Graham Allison	×		×
51	Michael Osterholm			×		×
52	Peter Power		×	×
53	John O'Connor			×
54	Matthew Levitt	×		×		×
55	Michael McKinley	×
56	Mustafa Alani					×
57	Stephen Schwartz					×	×
58	Louise Richardson	×
59	Evan Kohlmann					×
60	Anthony Glees	×
61	Laurie Mylroie	×				×
62	Bruce Riedel				×	×
63	Nick Kaldas			×
64	John Sifton					×
65	Jeane Kirkpatrick	×		×		×
66	Neil Doyle						×
67	Donald Henderson	×
68	Jonathan Stevenson					×	×
69	Irwin Redlener	×				×
70	Charles Pena					×
71	Dan Plesch	×	×			×
72	Tara O'Toole	×		×		×
73	Michael Walzer	×				×
74	Daniel Byman			×		×
75	Walter Laqueur	×				×
76	Adam Roberts	×				×
77	Marc Sageman	×			×	×
78	Jusuf Wanandi	×				×
79	Athol Yates					×
80	Crispin Black		×		×
81	Rachel Ehrenfeld					×
82	Andrew Lynch	×
83	Rolf Tophoven					×	×
84	Alan Krueger	×				×
85	Roger Cressey		×	×		×
86	Jack Goldsmith	×		×		×
87	Alex Standish		×				×
88	Cass Sunstein	×		×		×
89	Charles Shoebridge		×	×	×
90	Scott Atran	×				×
91	Seth Jones					×
92	Yonah Alexander	×				×
93	David Claridge		×			×
94	Fred Halliday	×				×

Analysis

A significant number of the experts (46 out of 100) are currently or have previously been a member of state institutions such as government, security or intelligence services, policing or the military. The dominance of the state is even more pronounced if you consider the 20 most prominent experts (who together returned more items than the remaining 80 experts together), 12 of whom have such an affiliation.

The majority of the experts (62 of the 100) are currently or have previously been members of private think-tanks or research institutes. Of the remaining experts the majority (21 out of 38) are currently or have previously worked in private security or intelligence firms, or alternatively state institutions such as government, security or intelligence, policing or military service.

Of the remaining 17 ‘independent’ experts, four are British journalists and 13 are current or former academics with no such affiliation. The 13 academics include the prominent critic of Western foreign policy Noam Chomsky, as well as supporters of state and corporate power such as Francis Fukuyama and Alan Dershowitz.

47 of the 100 experts are currently or have previously held tenure at an institution of higher education. Of those 47, 30 are known to be members of Private Think-Tanks or Research Institutes.

16 experts are current or former journalists. Of those 16, three have been employed in private security or intelligence firms, seven have worked for a government, intelligence or law enforcement agency, and seven are known to be members of Private Think-Tanks or Research Institutes. The four journalists with no such affiliations are Jason Burke, Simon Reeve, Kevin Toolis and Neil Doyle. The latter although not known to be directly affiliated with any institution is closely association with corporate security.