Insights into the Shadowy World of Armed Groups

Armed Groups: Studies in National Security, Counterterrorism, and Counterinsurgency

Foreword by Admiral Stansfield Turner
Former Director of Central Intelligence

Classic insurgents, terrorists, guerrillas, militias, police agencies, criminal organizations, mercenaries, pirates, drug cartels, apocalyptic religious extremists, orchestrated rioters and mobs, and tribal factions — all of these disparate organizations, defined as “armed groups”, can and do pose major security challenges to the United States.

In Armed Groups: Studies in National Security, Counterterrorism, and Counterinsurgency, published by the U.S. Naval War College, a host of experts on the shadowy world of these groups, including Martha Crenshaw, Rachel Ehrenfeld, Steven Emerson, James J.F. Forest, Rohan Gunaratna, T.X. Hammes, Russell Howard, Montgomery McFate, and Peter W. Singer, present the latest information and analysis about:

• History and Armed Groups
• Present Context and Environment
• Religion as Inspiration
• Thinking Differently About Armed Groups
• The Shape of Things to Come

The 32 essays in Armed Groups stem from a broad array of disciplines, ranging from such traditional areas of research as history, political science, anthropology, sociology, theology, and economics, to matters of ethics, technology, intelligence, education, the law, diplomacy, military science, and even mythology. Its 500 pages of comprehensive coverage and new insights make Armed Groups eminently suitable for adoption as a college- and graduate-level textbook.

About the editor: Jeffrey Norwitz has conducted complex criminal, counterintelligence, and counterterrorism investigations for 35 years. He is a Federal special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, teaches National Security Studies at the U.S. Naval War College, and holds the John Nicholas Brown Chair of Counterterrorism.

Armed Groups: Studies in National Security, Counterterrorism, and Counterinsurgency fills an important gap in the study of these increasingly important — and dangerous — entities.