ISIL’s International Expansion: What Does Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis’s Oath of Allegiance Mean?
The international expansion of the jihadist organization known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has become a ...
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross
How Many Fighters Does the Islamic State Really Have?
Estimates of the number of fighters in the ranks of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are extraordinarily wide-ranging. On the low end of things, CNN’s Barbara Starr recently...
Op-eds
Qaeda Group in Yemen Claims Responsibility for Charlie Hebdo Attack
... Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said one remaining unknown was whether one or both of the brothers had contact with A...
Op-eds
Why the Islamic State Desperately Needed to Hack Centcom’s Twitter
... The Islamic State’s current crisis is the result of several strategic miscalculations — like the beheadings of American journalists and August’s attack on Kurdish ter...
Op-eds
How the Kouachi Brothers Fell Through the Cracks
... Ultimately, the full extent to which Said and Cherif Kouachi were known to French and American officials is not yet entirely clear. But Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a terrorism ana...
Op-eds
Are Paris-Style Attacks the Future of Terrorism?
... “I would place [the Paris attack] into the ‘urban warfare’ model of attacks,” said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defens...
Op-eds
The Truth About ISIS… They’re Better at Twitter Than War
The Islamic State’s real social media skill makes commentators too willing to believe its shaky territorial claims
Op-eds
Some Possibilities For Who Might Be Responsible For The Paris Attack
... "A few data points suggest Al Qaeda. A few data points suggest ISIS. And we just don't have enough information to really know right now," Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fello...
Op-eds
ISIS Is Losing Its Greatest Weapon: Momentum
Evidence suggests that the Islamic State's power has been declining for months
Op-eds
The Islamic State’s Stalled Offensive in Anbar Province
In September, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) launched a devastatingly effective offensive in Iraq’s Anbar province that for a time masked the losses the group was experienc...
Op-eds
Was David Drugeon a French Intelligence Agent?
David Drugeon, a high-ranking French member of the al-Qaeda-linked Khorasan group in Syria, has been little known by English speakers. That is beginning to change: On October 29, CNN reported tha...
Op-eds
New FDD Monograph Explores Role of China in Afghanistan’s Future
WASHINGTON – A new monograph published by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies explores the role China is likely to play in shaping Afghanistan’s future, now that American troops...
Press Releases
What Does the Recent Spate of Lone Wolf Terrorist Attacks Mean?
North American interest in lone-wolf terrorism is at an all-time high following several high-profile incidents. Two ...
Op-eds
The Fight Goes on in Anbar: ISIL vs the World
Over the past week, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been able to build on its previous...
Op-eds
The Islamic State’s Anbar Offensive and Abu Umar al-Shishani
The recent gains in Iraq’s Anbar province by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have, justifiably, garnered a great deal of media attention. McClatchy ...
Op-eds
Thank You for Bombing
Washington says its air war on the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Sy...
Op-eds
The Islamic State’s Vulnerability
As the U.S. military joins with its allies and temporarily-aligned enemies to fulfill President Obama’s promise to “...
Op-eds
Keep Your Frenemies List Short and Your Enemies List Shorter
... Of course, international relations have never been a simple matter of sorting other nations and groups into friends or enemies, as Daveed Garte...
Op-eds
Russia, China Are Quiet When It Comes to ISIS
... State-controlled media outlets in Russia have even been blaming the U.S. and other anti-Assad nations for the surge of ISIS, said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, senior fellow at the Founda...
Op-eds
Al-Qaida Still a Clear and Present Danger
... "Al-Qaida adapted after the Arab uprisings, and was never really marginalized. It views some countries as being in a preparatory phase, where Salafi jihadist ideas can be propagated...