Terrorexpertise:Major World Newspapers List
Contents
Methodology
Below is a table of the 100 Terrorism Experts most prominent in major world newspapers. 437 names were taken from the Bulk List of experts and searched at LexisNexis's Major World Publications group[1] for items published between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2007. The search included each expert’s name [2] as well as any reference to 'terrorism', 'terrorist' or variations of the phrase 'suicide bomb'[3]. The 100 most prolific experts are reproduced in the table below in descending order of the number of items returned. The table also displays the variations of each individual’s name used in the search.
Nine experts though their name returned the requisite number of items were excluded from this list, details of which are included in the Notes section below[4].
Analysis
- A plurality of the experts (43 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, making up a clear majority of the most influential experts.
- The majority of the experts (52 of the 100) are currently or have previously been members of private think-tanks or research institutes. Of the remaining 48, 28 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 20 ‘independent’ experts, four are British journalists[5] and 16 are current or former academics with no such affiliation.[6] The 16 academics include the prominent critic of Western foreign policy Noam Chomsky, as well as several high profile supporters of state and corporate power such as Francis Fukuyama, Alan Dershowitz, Walter Laqueur, and Fouad Ajami.
- 47 of the 100 experts are currently or have previously held tenure at an institution of higher education. Of those 47, 26 are known to be members of Private Think-Tanks or Research Institutes.
- 15 experts are current or former journalists. Of those 15, two have been employed in private security or intelligence firms, six have worked for a government, intelligence or law enforcement agency, and five 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.
This list is one of a number compiled including:
- Terrorexpertise:Bulk List
- Terrorexpertise:Scholar_List
- Terrorexpertise:Google Books List
- Terrorexpertise:Elite Conference List
- Terrorexpertise:The 'Terrorism' Industry List
- Terrorexpertise:UK Television List
Terrorism Experts ranked according to number of articles returned
Name of Expert | Items Returned | Name variations used | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Mick Keelty | 2605 | Mick Keelty |
2 | Richard Clarke | 2025 | Richard Clarke or Richard A. Clarke |
3 | Benjamin Netanyahu | 1947 | Benjamin Netanyahu |
4 | Peter Clarke | 1180 | Peter Clarke |
5 | Rohan Gunaratna | 1009 | Rohan Gunaratna |
6 | Noam Chomsky | 788 | Noam Chomsky |
7 | Patrick Mercer | 681 | Patrick Mercer |
8 | Sidney Jones | 610 | Sidney Jones |
9 | Clive Williams | 588 | Clive Williams |
10 | Francis Fukuyama | 503 | Francis Fukuyama |
11 | Daniel Pipes | 486 | Daniel Pipes |
12 | Paul Wilkinson | 472 | Paul Wilkinson |
13 | Jason Burke | 464 | Jason Burke |
14 | Avi Dichter | 453 | Avi Dichter |
15 | Anthony Cordesman | 431 | Anthony Cordesman |
16 | Alan Dershowitz | 376 | Alan Dershowitz |
17 | Bruce Hoffman | 369 | Bruce Hoffman |
18 | Peter Bergen | 357 | Peter Bergen |
19 | David Veness | 350 | David Veness |
20 | Robert Baer | 335 | Robert Baer |
21 | Arnaud de Borchgrave | 322 | Arnaud de Borchgrave |
22 | Michael Clarke | 311 | Michael Clarke |
23 | Jonathan Evans | 311 | Jonathan Evans |
24 | Magnus Ranstorp | 310 | Magnus Ranstorp |
25 | Irwin Cotler | 293 | Irwin Cotler |
26 | Daniel Benjamin | 275 | Daniel Benjamin |
27 | Michael Scheuer | 268 | Michael Scheuer |
28 | Zachary Abuza | 267 | Zachary Abuza |
29 | David Capitanchik | 256 | David Capitanchik |
30 | John Thompson | 238 | John Thompson |
31 | Simon Reeve | 234 | Simon Reeve |
32 | Wesley Wark | 230 | Wesley Wark or Wesley K. Wark |
33 | Frances Townsend | 225 | Frances Townsend or Fran Townsend |
34 | David Charters | 222 | David Charters |
35 | Kevin Toolis | 216 | Kevin Toolis |
36 | Tariq Ramadan | 204 | Tariq Ramadan |
37 | Steve Emerson | 203 | Steve Emerson or Steven emerson |
38 | Steve Simon | 201 | Steve Simon or steven simon |
39 | Paul Beaver | 186 | Paul Beaver |
40 | Larry Johnson | 184 | Larry Johnson or Larry C. Johnson |
41 | Brian Jenkins | 171 | Brian Jenkins or Brian Michael Jenkins or Brian M. Jenkins |
42 | Rita Katz | 157 | Rita Katz |
43 | David Wright-Neville | 154 | David Wright-Neville |
44 | Olivier Roy | 152 | Olivier Roy |
45 | Michael Ledeen | 149 | Michael Ledeen |
46 | Robert Pape | 149 | Robert Pape or Robert A. Pape |
47 | Lawrence Eagleburger | 144 | Lawrence Eagleburger |
48 | Boaz Ganor | 144 | Boaz Ganor |
49 | Paul Rogers | 142 | Paul Rogers |
50 | Mike Yardley | 142 | Mike Yardley or Michael Yardley |
51 | Fouad Ajami | 136 | Fouad Ajami |
52 | Paul Pillar | 135 | Paul Pillar or Paul R. Pillar |
53 | Conor Cruise O'Brien | 134 | Conor Cruise O'Brien |
54 | Jessica Stern | 129 | Jessica Stern |
55 | Patrick Clawson | 126 | Patrick Clawson |
56 | Graham Allison | 124 | Graham Allison |
57 | Michael Osterholm | 122 | Michael Osterholm or Michael T. Osterholm |
58 | Peter Power | 119 | Peter Power |
59 | John O'Connor | 115 | John O'Connor |
60 | Matthew Levitt | 104 | Matthew Levitt or Matthew A. Levitt |
61 | Michael McKinley | 96 | Michael McKinley |
62 | Mustafa Alani | 94 | Mustafa Alani |
63 | Stephen Schwartz | 91 | Stephen Schwartz |
64 | Louise Richardson | 90 | Louise Richardson |
65 | Evan Kohlmann | 89 | Evan Kohlmann or Evan F. Kohlmann |
66 | Anthony Glees | 86 | Anthony Glees |
67 | Laurie Mylroie | 85 | Laurie Mylroie |
68 | Bruce Riedel | 85 | Bruce Riedel or Bruce O. Riedel |
69 | Nick Kaldas | 80 | Nick Kaldas |
70 | John Sifton | 79 | John Sifton |
71 | Jeane Kirkpatrick | 78 | Jeane Kirkpatrick |
72 | Neil Doyle | 77 | Neil Doyle |
73 | Donald Henderson | 74 | Donald Henderson or Donald A. Henderson |
74 | Jonathan Stevenson | 74 | Jonathan Stevenson |
75 | Irwin Redlener | 71 | Irwin Redlener |
76 | Charles Pena | 65 | Charles Pena or Charles V. Pena |
77 | Dan Plesch | 65 | Dan Plesch |
78 | Tara O'Toole | 64 | Tara O'Toole |
79 | Michael Walzer | 64 | Michael Walzer |
80 | Daniel Byman | 63 | Daniel Byman |
81 | Walter Laqueur | 62 | Walter Laqueur |
82 | Adam Roberts | 60 | Adam Roberts |
83 | Marc Sageman | 59 | Marc Sageman |
84 | Jusuf Wanandi | 59 | Jusuf Wanandi |
85 | Athol Yates | 59 | Athol Yates |
86 | Crispin Black | 58 | Crispin Black |
87 | Rachel Ehrenfeld | 58 | Rachel Ehrenfeld |
88 | Andrew Lynch | 58 | Andrew Lynch |
89 | Rolf Tophoven | 56 | Rolf Tophoven |
90 | Alan Krueger | 55 | Alan Krueger or Alan B. Krueger |
91 | Roger Cressey | 53 | Roger Cressey |
92 | Jack Goldsmith | 52 | Jack Goldsmith |
93 | Alex Standish | 52 | Alex Standish |
94 | Cass Sunstein | 52 | Cass Sunstein or Cass R. Sunstein |
95 | Charles Shoebridge | 51 | Charles Shoebridge |
96 | Scott Atran | 50 | Charles Shoebridge |
97 | Seth Jones | 50 | Seth Jones or Seth G. Jones |
98 | Yonah Alexander | 49 | Yonah Alexander |
99 | David Claridge | 49 | David Claridge |
100 | Fred Halliday | 49 | Fred Halliday |
Notes
- ↑ The LexisNexis Major World Newspapers group file which was used for the search contains over 40 full-text newspapers from around the world. According to LexisNexis the papers included “are generally regarded by the reading public as those giving the most comprehensive and reliable coverage”. A full list of the sources is below.
Major World Newspapers Sources
- ABIX - Australasian Business Intelligence
- Asia Africa Intelligence Wire - Selected Publications
- Belfast Telegraph
- Brisbane News
- BRW Abstracts (Australia)
- Business Day (South Africa)
- Countryman
- Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday
- Daily News (New York)
- Daily Record & Sunday Mail
- Daily Telegraph & Sunday Telegraph (Sydney)
- Financial Mail (South Africa)
- Financial Post Investing
- Financial Times
- Global News Wire
- Herald Sun & Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne)
- Het Financieele Dagblad (English)
- Hobart Mercury/Sunday Tasmanian
- INEWS/ITHSUN
- INEWS/THESUN
- Information Bank Abstracts
- International Herald Tribune
- Kiplinger Publications
- Korea Herald
- Korea Times
- Los Angeles Times (most recent 6 months)
- Mainichi Daily News
- Miami Herald
- Moscow News
- National Post
- Newsday (most recent 6 months)
- New Straits Times (Malaysia)
- Northern Territory News (Australia)
- South China Morning Post
- Sunday Times (South Africa)
- Sunday Tribune
- The Advertiser/Sunday Mail (Australia)
- The Age (Melbourne, Australia)
- The Australian
- The Australian Financial Review Abstracts
- The Boston Globe
- The Business
- The Business Times Singapore
- The Canberra Times
- The Courier Mail and The Sunday Mail (Australia)
- The Daily and Sunday Telegraph (London)
- The Daily Star and Sunday Star
- The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo)
- The Dominion (Wellington)
- The Dominion Post (Wellington)
- The Express
- The Express - Most Recent Two Weeks
- The Globe and Mail (Canada)
- The Guardian (London)
- The Herald (Glasgow)
- The Independent and Independent on Sunday (London)
- The Irish Times
- The Japan Times
- The Jerusalem Post
- The Jerusalem Report
- The Kalgoorlie Miner
- The Mirror and The Sunday Mirror
- The Moscow Times
- The Nation (Thailand)
- The News of the World
- The New York Times
- The New York Times - Biographical Materials
- The New York Times - Government Biographical Materials
- The New Zealand Herald
- The Observer
- The Philadelphia Inquirer
- The Prague Post
- The Press (Christchurch)
- The Scotsman & Scotland on Sunday
- The Straits Times (Singapore)
- The Sun
- The Sunday Express
- The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
- The Times & Sunday Times
- The Toronto Star
- The Toronto Sun
- The Washington Post
- The Washington Post Biographical Stories
- The Washington Times
- The West Australian
- USA Today
- Wall Street Journal Abstracts
- Xtreme Information
- ↑ The searches were based on the Christian name and Surname of the experts. Where the use of a middle name, middle initial or a variation on the individual’s Christian name appeared to be in common use this was also incorporated into the search. This was determined by a Google search of the individual’s Christian name and Surname and a noting down of all variations used in the first twenty results retured.
- ↑ The specific details of the search are as follows: [Name of Expert] and terrorism or terrorist or "suicide bomb*" (>=2000-01-01 and <=2007-12-01)
- ↑ A search for Richard Brennan returned 121 items but 119 of those were articles written by a Toronto Star journalist of the same name. Similarly a search for John Downing returned 114 items but 103 were articles written by the Toronto Sun journalist of the same name. A search for John O’Neill yielded 294 items but a number of those articles referred to other individuals of the same name and the majority concerned O’Neill’s death in the September 11th attacks. In addition the following seven experts were excluded because the articles returned referred predominantly to other individuals of the same name:
- Ali Khan (520 items)
- Robert Thompson (255 items)
- Michael Johnson (127 items)
- Alan Murray (115 items)
- John Murphy (91 items)
- David George (52 items)
- Philip Russell (52 items)
- ↑ namely Simon Reeve, Jason Burke, Kevin Toolis and Neil Doyle
- ↑ The 16 ‘independent’ academics are listed below:
- Noam Chomsky
- Francis Fukuyama
- Alan Dershowitz
- David Capitanchik
- Wesley Wark
- David Charters
- Robert Pape
- Fouad Ajami
- Michael McKinley
- Louise Richardson
- Anthony Glees
- Donald Henderson
- Irwin Redlener
- Walter Laqueur
- Andrew Lynch
- Cass Sunstein
- Scott Atran