Terrorexpertise:Methodology

This article is part of SpinWatch's Terrorism Experts project.

The Bulk List

The first stage in the research was the compilation of a list of terrorism experts from various sources including academic, the internet and the media. The process of compiling this list is described in detail below.

Academia

In order to identify experts from academia we used the Social Science Citation Index; a database of the world's leading scholarly social sciences journals. We searched the keyword ‘terrorism’ for articles published between 1970 and 2007. The search returned 4,511 articles and 8,126 authors. Details of the search are as follows:

TS=(Terrorism) DocType=All document types Language=All languages Database=SSCI Timespan=1970-2007 Results found: 4,511 Sum of the Times Cited information: 8,171 Average Citations per Item information: 1.81

From these search results we wanted to extract approximately 100 of the most prolific authors and approximately 100 of the authors who have had the most impact in the field (judged by how often their articles are cited).

We therefore included in the study the 132 authors who had written 5 or more articles within the 4,511 sample (this was chosen over the less inclusive figure of 70 which represented the number of authors who had written 6 or more articles).

In order to assess the authors who had had the most impact (as distinct from the authors who had written the most articles) we analysed the 4,511 articles using the Social Sciences Citation Index’s Citation Report function. We compiled from that report, a list of the authors of the 105 most cited articles. Since the function analyses the citation of articles rather than authors, and since many of the article are co-authored that list of 105 articles yielded 262 unique authors. Finally, of that list of 262 unique authors, the 99 individuals who were the most cited were included in the study.

In total, these two searches yielded 212 academics of which 19 featured in both categories.

Internet

To include individuals with a strong presence on the internet we search the internet for the terms “Terrorism Expert” OR “Terror Expert” using Google at 10:12am on 20 December 2007. We accessed each accessible webpage returned in turn, noting down any individuals described by the search terms on the returned webpages. The first 25 unique names returned were included in the study.

Authors

To include popular authors on the subject of terrorism we used the search engine Google Books to search for books with the phrase ‘Terrorism’ in the title. The search was conducted at 11:00am on 3 January 2007. The first 25 unique author names returned were included in the study.

Policy World

To include figures prominent in the policy world we sought to identify individuals who regularly attended conferences and other events at influential think-tanks and policy institutes.

As a starting point we looked at institutions involved in terrorism research whose websites were linked to on the websites of the British Security Service MI5 and the US Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism – those organisations being at the centre of US and UK counter-terrorism. We compiled a list of organisations from the section of the US Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism entitled ‘Resources and Links’ and the institutions listed under ‘International Terrorism’ in MI5’s ‘Resources and Links’ page. Excluding libraries, which were not relevant for our purposes, this produced a list of 20 institutions involved in terrorism research:

Air Force Counterproliferation Center

Brookings Institution

Center for Defense Information - Terrorism Project

Center for Nonproliferation Studies: Terrorism

Center for Strategic and International Studies - Terrorism

Center for Terrorism Studies

Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence

Chatham House

Combating Terrorism Center/West Point

Council on Foreign Relations

Heritage Foundation

International Institute for Strategic Studies

International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism

Jamestown Foundation

Jane's Information Group

National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism

Strategic Studies Institute/U.S. Army War College

RAND - Terrorism

Royal United Services Institute

Wilton Park

Of those institutions we were limited to those which disclosed details of their events and in particular those that published the names of guests and attendees of past events. At each institution the names of all published attendees to events on terrorism were recorded. 23 individuals were found to have attended more than one event. They were included in the study.

A full list of the events consulted and the host institution of the event is below:

• Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy, Brookings Institution, 25 April 2001
• Attack Against America - Our Next Steps, Council on Foreign Relations, 20 September 2001
• Terrorism and the New US Foreign Policy: Views from Abroad, Council on Foreign Relations, 26 September 2001
• Understanding the War on Terrorism: Implications for American Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations, 7 November 2001
• America’s Foreign Policy: Tradition and the War on Terrorism, Council on Foreign Relations, 14 November 2001
• How Did This Happen? Terrorism and the New War, Council on Foreign Relations, 17 December 2001
• The International Response To Global Terrorism, Chatham House, 24 January 2002
• Rule Of Law: Keeping the Balkans Free of al Qaeda, Council on Foreign Relations, 13 February 2002
• 9/11 and the Middle East, Chatham House, 21 March 2002
• Tackling The Root Causes Of Terrorism, Chatham House, 20 April 2002
• Islam And The Jihad, Chatham House, 16 May 2002
• What Should Be Our Overall Strategy In Dealing With Terrorism?, Council on Foreign Relations, 29 May 2002
• The Base: A Journey In Search Of Al-qaeda, Chatham House, 17 July 2002
• Terrorism, Counter-terrorism And Human Rights, Chatham House, 13 November 2002
• An Alternative To Terrorism, Chatham House, 18 November 2002
• The War Against Terrorism And The Dangerous Neglect Of Human Rights, Chatham House, 21 January 2003
• Blowback By Ricochet: Algeria, Iraq And Al-qaida, Chatham House, 13 March 2003
• Phase III in the War on Terrorism? Challenges and Opportunities, Brookings Institution, 14 May 2003
• Al-qaeda, Saudi Arabia And International Security, Chatham House, 12 June 2003
• Terrorism & Human Rights, Chatham House, 11 February 2004
• Chemical and Biological Terrorism: Forging a Response, Wilton Park, 18-20 February 2004
• Fighting the Financing of Terrorism: Developing a Successful, Jamestown Foundation, 16 March 2004
• Chemical and Biological Terrorism, Wilton Park, 19-21 March 2004
• Saudi Arabia And The Threat From Terrorism: Are The Proposed Reforms Too Little, Too Late?, Chatham House, 30 June 2004
• The Iraqi Insurgency and al-Qaeda, Jamestown Foundation, 10 July 2004
• Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, Council on Foreign Relations, 27 September 2004
• "Why Is Radical Islamic Fundamentalism Gaining Ground Among Second-generation Muslims Living In The West And Converts To Islam?", Chatham House, 13 October 2004
• Islam in a Changing World, Council on Foreign Relations, 15 November 2004
• Insurgency and Jihad: The Iraqi Theater and Beyond, Jamestown Foundation, 11 April 2005
• How to be Effective in Counter-Terrorism, Brookings Institution, 15 April 2005
• John C Whitehead Lecture On Anglo-american Relations, 'soft Power And The Struggle Against Terrorism', Chatham House, 4 May 2005
• American Counterterrorism: The Secret History and Uncertain Future, Council on Foreign Relations, 1 June 2005
• Is Islam A Threat To The West - Session Vii - Unmasking Prejudice And Facilitating Understanding, Chatham House, 1 June 2005
• Terrorism in the UK, Royal United Services Institute, 22 June 2005
• How To Win the War Against Terrorism, Brookings Institution, 22 September 2005
• Landscapes Of The Jihad, Chatham House, 12 October 2005
• Global War on Terror Series: The War on Terror—Are We Losing?, Council on Foreign Relations, 17 November 2005
• Are We Winning the War on Terrorism? A Report from Afghanistan, Brookings Institution, 19 January 2006
• Politics & Terrorism, Royal United Services Institute, 16 February 2006
• What Does Al Qaeda Want?, Chatham House, 22 February 2006
• International Terrorism: Dimensions and Response, Council on Foreign Relations, 5 April 2006
• The Secret History Of Al-qa'ida, Chatham House, 5 April 2006
• What Terrorists Want: Understanding The Terrorist Threat, Chatham House, 5 June 2006
• Evolving Tactics of Terrorism?, International Institute of Strategic Studies, 6 July 2006
• Countering Nuclear Terrorism, Chatham House, 21 September 2006
• Whitehall Dialogue: Counter-Terrorism: Its Impact on the Craft of Intelligence, Royal United Services Institute, 29 September 2006
• Understanding Suicide Terrorism, Royal United Services Institute, 3 November 2006
• Transnational Terrorism: Defeating the Threat, Royal United Services Institute, 10 November 2006
• Politics and Terrorism, Royal United Services Institute, 14-15 February 2007
• Countering Suicide Terrorism, Royal United Services Institute, 6 March 2007
• Female Suicide Bombing and Europe, International Institute of Strategic Studies, 12 March 2007
• Terrorism, Security And Civil Liberties, Chatham House, 14 March 2007
• The Algiers Bombings: Al-Qaeda's Resurgence in North Africa, Jamestown Foundation, 17 April 2007
• Terrorism in the UK: A Workshop on Radicalisation, Royal United Services Institute, 2 May 2007
• CBRN Terrorism: Mapping the Threat, Wilton Park, 16-19 May 2007
• Al Qaeda Rising?, Council on Foreign Relations, 1 June 2007
• Jacobson: Europe’s New Terror Threat, Council on Foreign Relations, 25 July 2007
• A Conversation with Michael Hayden, Council on Foreign Relations, 7 September 2007
• 7th International Conference, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, 8-11 September 2007
• Al-Qaeda and the Threat to the American Homeland, Council on Foreign Relations, 12 September 2007
• Islamic Movements in Iraqi Kurdistan, Jamestown Foundation, 17 September 2007
• The Long War on Terrorism and Struggle Against Extremism, Brookings Institution, 19 September 2007
• Prepared Remarks by the FBI's Robert Mueller, Council on Foreign Relations, 28 September 2007
• MI5 Director General's Speech on Intelligence, Counter-Terrorism and Trust, Council on Foreign Relations, 5 November 2007
• The Future of Radical Islam in Europe, Council on Foreign Relations, 6 November 2007
• The Al-Qaeda Triangle, Jamestown Foundation, 5 December 2007
• Intelligence and the Sociology of Terrorism, Royal United Services Institute, 8-9 December 2006

Major World Publications

To include individuals from print media we searched Major World Publications from the news archive service LexisNexis. We searched the group file Major World Publications for items containing the phrase ‘terrorism expert’ published between 1 January 2007 and 18 January 2008.

In each item returned we noted down any individuals described as a ‘terrorism expert’. Individuals referred to more than once were included in the study. One individual, namely Brice Steele, although he was referred to as a ‘terrorism expert’ in 15 items in the sample was not included because all those items were obituaries of that individual.

LexisNexis’s Major World Publications includes the following publications:

ABIX - Australasian Business Intelligence

Advertising Age

Advertising Age Creativity

Adweek

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Africa News

African Mining Monitor

Aging & Elder Health Week

AIDS Vaccine Week

AIDS Weekly

AIDS Weekly & Law

Aircraft Value News

AirFinance Journal

Airline Business

Airline Business Report

Airline Industry Information

Airports

Airport Security Report

Air Safety Week

Air Traffic Management

Al-Jazeera

Alpha

Alternative Investment News

American Artist

American Banker-Bond Buyer Newsletters

American Time

Amusement Business (VNU)

Angiogenesis Weekly

Anti-Infectives Week

Arable Farming

Architectural Lighting

Architectural Record

Architecture

AsiaLaw

Asiamoney

Automotive News

Automotive News Europe

Automotive News German Auto Industry Newsletter

AutoWeek

Aviation Daily

Aviation Maintenance

Aviation Week's Homeland Security & Defense

Aviation Week & Space Technology

Avionics

BackStage

Baltic News Service

Bank Systems & Technology

Bass Player

Bath Chronicle

BBC Worldwide Monitoring

Belfast News Letter

Belfast Telegraph

BI Industry Focus

Billboard

Billboard Radio Monitor

BIOMECHANICS

Biotech Business Week

Biotech Law Weekly

Biotech Week

Bioterrorism Week

Birmingham Evening Mail

Birmingham Post

Blood Weekly

Brand Strategy

Brandweek

Brisbane News

Bristol Evening Post

Broadband Business Forecast

Broadcast News

BRW Abstracts (Australia)

B to B

Builder

Building Design

Business & Commercial Aviation

Business & Finance Magazine

Business Day (South Africa)

Business Insurance

Business Travel News

Business Week

BusinessWorld

C4I News

Cabinet Maker

CableFax

CableFAX's CableWORLD

California Construction Link

Call Center Magazine

Cancer Gene Therapy Week

Cancer Law Weekly

Cancer Vaccine Week

Cancer Weekly

Cardiovascular Business Week

Cardiovascular Device Liability Week

Cardiovascular Week

Carpet & Floorcoverings Review

Caterer & Hotelkeeper

Central Office Of Information (Hermes Database)

CFO

Chemical Week

Chemist & Druggist

Chemweek Daily Newswire

China Law & Practice

Chlor-Alkali Marketwire

Clinical Oncology Week

Clinical Trials Week

Colorado Construction

Commercial Motor

Commercial Property News

Communications Technology

Communications Today

Community Care

Commuter/Regional Airline News

CommWeb

Compliance Reporter

Computer Weekly

Contract

Control and Instrumentation

Convenience Store News

Corporate Financing Week

Corporate IT Update

Corporate Money

Countryman

Couture Jeweler

Crain's Chicago Business

Crain's Cleveland Business

Crain's Detroit Business

Crain's New York Business

Creative Review

Credit Investment News

CT's Pipeline

CT's Voice Report

CT Reports

Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday

Daily News (New York)

Daily Post (Liverpool)

Daily Record & Sunday Mail

Daily Telegraph & Sunday Telegraph (Sydney)

Daily Variety

Dairy Farmer

Data Strategy

DCD Business Report

Defense Daily

Defense Daily International

Defined Contributions & Savings Plan Alert

Derivatives Week

Design Engineering

Design Week

Design Week - Dutch Stories

Deutsche Presse Agentur

Diabetes Week

Diagnostic Imaging

Digital Cinematography

Digital Connect Magazine

Disease Prevention Week

Disease Risk Factor Week

Display & Design Ideas

Doctor

Drug Law Weekly

Drug Week

Editor & Publisher Magazine

Egi Web News

Elder Law Weekly

Electricity Journal

Electric Power Daily

Electric Utility Week

Electronic Chemicals News

Electronic Engineering Times

Electronic Gaming Business

Electronic Payments Week

Electronics Weekly

Embedded Systems Design

Embroidery Monogram Business

Employee Benefits

Employers Law

Energy Compass

Energy Intelligence Briefing

Energy Network

Energy Trader

Engineering News-Record

EQ

Estates Gazette

Euromoney

European Pensions & Investments News

European Rubber Journal

Europe Information Service

EuropeMedia

EuroProperty Magazine

EuroWeek

Evening Times (Glasgow)

EXE

Farmers Guardian

FDA Law Weekly

Fiber Optics Forecast

Financial Adviser

Financial Mail (South Africa)

Financial Post Investing

Financial Times Mandate

Fitness & Wellness Business Week

Flight International

Food & Drug Law Weekly

Forestry & British Timber

Foundation & Endowment Money Management

FT Expat

Fund Action

Fund Strategy

Game Developer

Gas Daily

Gastroenterology Week

Gene Therapy Weekly

Genetics & Environmental Business Week

Genetics & Environmental Health Week

Genetics & Environmental Law Weekly

Genomics & Genetics Weekly

Glass Age

Global Investor

Global Money Management

Global News Wire

Global Power Report

Global Telecoms Business

Gourmet Retailer

Government Procurement Report

Government Video

Guitar Player

Haymarket

HD/Studio

Health & Medicine Week

Health Business Week

Healthcare Finance, Tax & Law Weekly

Healthcare Mergers, Acquisitions & Ventures Week

Health Insurance Law Weekly

Health Insurance Week

Health Risk Factor Week

Heart Disease Weekly

Helicopter News

Hematology Week

Hepatitis Weekly

Herald Sun & Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne)

Het Financieele Dagblad (English)

Hobart Mercury/Sunday Tasmanian

Hospital & Nursing Home Week

Hospital Business Week

Hospital Doctor

Hospitality Design

Hospital Law Weekly

Hydrocarbon Processing

ICIS Chemical Business

ICIS Chemical Business America

Immunotherapy Weekly

Impressions

Incentive

Industry Week

Informa Business Publications

Information Bank Abstracts

InformationWeek

Inside Digital TV

Inside Energy/with Federal Lands

Inside F.E.R.C.

Inside F.E.R.C.'s Gas Market Report

Inside N.R.C.

Institutional Investor (America's Edition)

Institutional Investor (International Edition)

In Store Marketing

Insurance & Technology

Intelligent Enterprise

Intermountain Contractor

International Financial Adviser

International Herald Tribune

International Money Marketing

International Oil Daily

International Petroleum Finance

International Securities Finance

Internet Business News

Investment Adviser

Investment News

IT Architect

IT Contracts

Jet Fuel Intelligence

Kid's Marketing Report

Kiplinger Publications

Kirkus Reviews

Kitchen & Bath Business

Korea Herald

Korea Times

Lab Business Week

Lab Law Weekly

LatinFinance

Law & Health Weekly

Lawyers Weekly

Legal PR Bulletin

Legal Week

Life Science Weekly

Liverpool Echo

Lloyd's List

Los Angeles Times (most recent 6 months)

Louisiana Contractor

Maghreb Confidential

Mainichi Daily News

Malaria Weekly

Managed Care Business Week

Managed Care Law Weekly

Managed Care Weekly Digest

Managed Services Insider

Management Today

Marketing Week

Marketing Y Medios

McGraw-Hill Publications

MD Week

Media Business

Media Industry Newsletter

Medialine

MediaWeek

Medical Device Business Week

Medical Device Law Weekly

Medical Devices & Surgical Technology Week

Medical Imaging Business Week

Medical Imaging Law Weekly

Medical Imaging Week

Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA

Medical Patent Business Week

Medical Patent Law Weekly

Medical Patent Week

Medical Verdicts & Law Weekly

Medicine & Law Weekly

Megawatt Daily

Mental Health Business Week

Mental Health Law Weekly

Mental Health Weekly Digest

Mergers and Acquisitions Journal

Mermigas on Media

Metals Week

Metalworking Production

Miami Herald

Microscope

Mid-Atlantic Construction

Middle East Newsfile (Moneyclips)

Middlesbrough Evening Gazette

Midland Independent Newspapers

Midwest Construction

MiMegasite

Min's Advertising Report

MIN's B2B

Mining Magazine

Mobile Matters

Modern Healthcare

Modern Physician

Money Management

Money Management Letter

Money Marketing

Mortgage Strategy

Moscow News

Motor Transport

MTI Econews

Multi-Housing News

Music Week

National Jeweler

National Post

Natural Gas Week

Nefte Compass

NEFT Trader

Network Computing

New Media Age

New Media Creative

New Musical Express

Newsday (most recent 6 months)

New Straits Times (Malaysia)

Newsweek

New TV Strategies

New York Construction

Nordic Business Report

Northern Territory News (Australia)

Northwest Construction

Nuclear Fuel

Nucleonics Week

Nursing Home & Elder Business Week

NZ Infotech Weekly (Wellington)

Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week

Obesity & Diabetes Week

OBGYN & Reproduction Week

Occupational Health

Off Licence News

Oil & Gas Journal

Oil Daily

Oil Market Intelligence

Oncology Business Week

Operations Management

Optimize

Ottawa Citizen

Overhaul & Maintenance

Packaging Magazine

Pain & Central Nervous System Week

Pasha Publications

Patient Care Law Weekly

Pensions Age

Pensions and Investments

Pensions Management

Pensions Week

Personnel Today

Petroleum Economist

Petroleum Intelligence Weekly

Pharma Business Week

Pharmacy Today

Pharma Investments, Ventures & Law Weekly

Pharma Law Weekly

Pharma Marketletter

Photo District News

Physician and Sportsmedicine

Physician Business Week

Physician Law Weekly

Planning

Plastics News

Platt's International Coal Report

Platt's Petrochemicals Report

Platts Coal Outlook

Platts Coal Trader

Platts Coal Trader International

Platts Energy Business & Technology

Platts Oilgram News

Platts Oilgram Price Report

Platts Retail Energy

Polish News Bulletin

Post Graduate Medicine

Post Magazine

Potentials

Power, Finance and Risk

Power Magazine

Power Markets Week

Precision Marketing

Precision Marketing - Dutch Stories

Presentations

Preventive Medicine Week

Printing World

Private Asset Management

PR News

Process Engineering

Project Finance

Pro Sound News

Proteomics Weekly

Psychiatric Times

PUBID;BUYOTS

PUBID;EURVCJ

PUBID;PRIVEW

PUBID;SDPNWS

PUBID;VENTCJ

Public Private Finance

Pulse

RCR Wireless News

Reactions

Real Estate Finance and Investment

Reinsurance Magazine

Rental and Staging Systems

Residential Systems

Respiratory Therapeutics Week

Retail Week

Review of Banking and Financial Services

Revolution

Rotor & Wing

Rubber & Plastics News

Sales & Marketing Management

Satellite News

Satellite Today

Science Letter

Securities Week

South Central Construction

South China Morning Post

Southeast Construction

South Wales Echo

Southwest Contractor

Space & Missile Defense Report

Sporting Goods Business

Sporting Goods Dealer

Sports Argus

Sports Marketing

St. Petersburg Times

State & Local Health Law Weekly

Stem Cell Week

Sunday Herald

Sunday Mercury

Sunday Times (South Africa)

Surgery Litigation & Law Weekly

Systems Contractor News

Tarifica Alert

TB & Outbreaks Week

TechNews

Technology & Learning

TechWeb

Telecom Policy Report

Telecom Tactics Insider

Telecomweb news break

Telecomworldwire

Telemedicine Business Week

Telemedicine Law Weekly

Telemedicine Week

Television Broadcast

Television Week

Televisual

Terror Response Technology Report

Texas Construction

The Advertiser/Sunday Mail (Australia)

The Age (Melbourne, Australia)

The Australian

The Australian Financial Review Abstracts

The Banker

TheBookStandard.com

The Boston Globe

The Business

The Business Times Singapore

The Canberra Times

The Christian Science Monitor

The Courier Mail and The Sunday Mail (Australia)

The Daily and Sunday Telegraph (London)

The Daily Deal

The Daily Star and Sunday Star

The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo)

The Dominion (Wellington)

The Dominion Post (Wellington)

The Economist

The Edge Malaysia

The Edge Singapore

The Engineer

The Evening Post (Wellington)

The Evening Standard (London)

The Express

The Gazette (Montreal)

The Globe and Mail (Canada)

The Grocer

The Guardian (London)

The Herald (Glasgow)

The Hollywood Reporter

The Independent and Independent on Sunday (London)

The Investors Chronicle

The Irish Times

The Japan Times

The Jerusalem Post

The Jerusalem Report

The Kalgoorlie Miner

The Lawyer

The Mirror and The Sunday Mirror

The Moscow Times

The Nation (Thailand)

The News of the World

The New Yorker

The New York Times

The New York Times - Biographical Materials

The New York Times - Government Biographical Materials

The New Zealand Herald

The Nikkei Weekly (Japan)

The Northern Echo

The Observer

The People

The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Practitioner

The Prague Post

The Press (Christchurch)

The Progressive Grocer

The Review of Securities and Commodities Regulation

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 Weekly of Business Aviation

The Weekly Times

The West Australian

The Western Mail

Tire Business

Total Securitization

Trade Finance

Training

Training Magazine

Travel Trade Gazette UK & Ireland

Travel Weekly

Tuberculosis Week

USA Today

Utility Week

Vaccine Weekly

VARBusiness

Variety

Very Light Jet Report

Via Satellite

Videography

Virus Weekly

VNU Entertainment News Wire

VRL Knowledgebank Newsletters

Wales on Sunday

Wall Street & Technology

Wall Street Journal Abstracts

Wall Street Letter

Warren Publications

Waste News

Western Daily Press

What's new in Building

What's new in Industry

Wilmington Publications

Wireless Data Forecast

Women's Health Law Weekly

Women's Health Weekly

Workforce Management

World Disease Weekly

World Gas Intelligence

World Oil

WorldSources - Emerging Markets

Worldwide Computer Product News

Xtreme Information

Television

To include experts from television we used two databases which catalogue UK television broadcasts; BBC Motion Gallery and ITN Source. BBC Motion Gallery includes all programmes produced by the BBC. ITN Source stocks largely news bulletins and news rushes produced by ITN. The search at the BBC Motion Gallery archive was limited to items filed under the categories of News or Current Affairs, whilst the search at ITN Source was limited to items categorised under ITN and Channel 4. Both archives were searched for items labelled with the term ‘terrorism expert’ broadcast between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2006. All individuals referred to as a terrorism expert in the accompanying archival notes were included in the study. This yielded 62 individuals.

Individuals identified in a previous study

32 individuals were included in the study because they were found to be influential terrorism experts in a previous study conducted by Edward Herman and Gerry O’Sullivan in 1989.

Additional individuals

Finally we added 53 additional individuals who we considered important and influential in the counter-terrorism field. These individuals are listed below:

Robert Baer

Simon Barrett

Jillian Becker

Scott L. Campbell

Gerard Chaliand

Michael Chandler

David Charters

Angelo Codevilla

Christopher Coker

Irwin Cotler

Paul Cruickshank

Midge Decter

James Denton

Barry Desker

Matthew Devost

Avi Dichter

Rachel Ehrenfeld

Mark Ensalaco

Jean-Pierre Filiu

Samuel Finer

Andrew Garfield

Farid Ghadry

Rebecca Givner-Forbes

Russell Howard

Larry Johnson

Ahmad Kamal

Frank Kitson

Alyssa A. Lappen

Matthew Levitt

Clare M. Lopez

Laurie Mylroie

Michael Noone

Haniff Omar

Chris Pope

Walter Purdy

Louise Richardson

Gabrielle Rifkind

Paul Rogers

David Schenker

Stephen Schwartz

Hemant H. Shah

Michael Shrimpton

Duncan Slater

Clark Staten

Michael Swetnam

Raymond Tanter

Robert Thompson

David Veness

Jusuf Wanandi

Tracy-Paul Warrington

Ilan Weinglass

Aaron Weisburd

Meyrav Wurmser

Further study

Having collected a list of 437 individual terrorism experts from a variety of sources, the next stage in the study involved testing their relative prominence in different areas.

The Print Media

We were interested in using the Bulk List to compile a list of the 100 most prominent terrorism experts in print media. To do so we searched the group file Major World Newspapers from the news archive service LexisNexis. We searched the Major World Newspapers group file for items published between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2007 which contained the individual’s name as well as any reference to ‘terrorism’, ‘terrorist’ or any variation of the phrase ‘suicide bomb’.

Our name 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. Whether or not this was the case was determined by a Google search of the individual’s Christian name and Surname and the term ‘terrorism’. Any variations used in the first twenty results returned were incorporated into the search.

Several amendments were made on the basis that the names are in common use and do not refer to the relevant individual. 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 Ali Khan, Robert Thompson and David George returned 520, 255 and 52 items respectively but were excluded because they referred predominantly to other individuals.

Television

We were interested in using the Bulk List to compile a list of approximately 100 of the most prominent terrorism experts from that list appearing on UK Television. To do so we used two databases which catalogue UK television broadcasts; BBC Motion Gallery and ITN Source. BBC Motion Gallery includes all programmes produced by the BBC. ITN Source stocks largely news bulletins and news rushes produced by ITN.

Both archives were searched for items including each expert’s name broadcast between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2006. Our search at the BBC Motion Gallery archive was limited to items filed under the categories of News or Current Affairs, whilst the search at ITN Source was limited to items categorised under ITN and Channel 4. Only appearances relating to terrorism were recorded. Any items referring to ‘terror’, ‘Islamic fundamentalism’, ‘extremism’ or ‘suicide bombing’ were treated as relating to terrorism.