Tech Developing Counterterrorism Courses

Joshua Sinai (right) recently joined the Center for Technology, Security and Policy as associate professor/research where he will lead a team of seasoned former government practitioners and academic experts in developing new courses on terrorism and counterterrorism analysis at Virginia Tech’s National Capital Region campus.

The courses will consist of in-class and on-line distance-learning classes, offering practitioner-based, cutting-edge learning opportunities for students. Sinai, an expert on terrorism, counterterrorism, and intelligence analysis, brings more than 25 years of experience in government and the corporate sector, publishing, and teaching at the graduate level.

Most recently, Sinai supported the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Counterterrorism Division as a National Security and Policy Advisor, working as a contractor on behalf of his former company, The Analysis Corporation (Global TAC/GTEC).

In 2004-05, Sinai worked at the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate, where he managed a project on the social and behavioral components of terrorism, including assessing the impact of terrorist attacks on society. While at DHS, Sinai served on a White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's (OSTP) interagency working group, which produced a report in March 2005 on the contribution of the social, behavioral, and economic sciences to counterterrorism. He also served on the DHS team that developed the solicitation and evaluated proposals to create a new university center on these issues.

Upon successful completion of the curriculum, students will receive a Virginia Tech certificate in counterterrorism analysis. Additional in-class courses are being planned, as well. Sinai will continue his past work in developing a suite of social science-based tool kits to aid the academic, policy, and operational communities in analyzing a spectrum of terrorism-related areas, such as root causes, radicalization, forecasting warfare, and resolving protracted terrorist conflicts.