Dennis Pluchinsky

Dennis Pluchinsky

Dennis Pluchinsky

Adjunct Faculty

Terrorism, radicalization, terrorist surveillance, the Global Jihad Movement, al-Qaeda, terrorist tactics and target selection, counter-terrorism policies and programs

Dennis Pluchinsky was a senior terrorism analyst in the U.S. Department of State's Office of Intelligence and Threat Analysis from 1977-2005. During that time he was responsible for analyzing terrorism in Western Europe, the Former Soviet Union, and the Middle East and Asia. He was selected in 1992 and 2004 for the Director of Central Intelligence's Exceptional Intelligence Analyst Program. He is a contributing editor for the international journal "Studies in Conflict and Terrorism," an associate of the U.S. Intelligence Community's Associates Program, and a lecturer for West Point's Counter-Terrorism Center. He currently gives recurring lectures on terrorism and the current threat at CIA University, the State Department's National Foreign Affairs Training Center, and the Joint Military Intelligence Training Center. Since 1990, he has taught courses on terrorism at five local universities. At present, he teaches courses on terrorism and technology, and radicalization and recruitment at Georgetown University and basic courses on terrorism and counter-terrorism at George Mason University. He has also written numerous articles, newspaper commentaries, and book chapters on terrorism over the past 25 years.

Current Research

 Terrorist Communiques, Assessing the Current Threat from the Global Jihadists

Selected Publications

Book chapter “Typology and Anatomy of Terrorist Operations,” in David Kamien, editor, The McGraw-Hill Homeland Security Handbook (N.Y: McGraw-Hill, 2006)

Book chapter “Ethnic Terrorism: Themes and Variations” in The Politics of Terror, edited by Andrew Tan (London: Routledge, 2006).

Article “Evolution of The U.S. Government’s Annual Report on Terrorism: A Personal Commentary, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism (January –February 2006, Volume 29, Issue 1), pages 91-98.

Article “The Migration of Terrorist Tactics, Techniques, and Creativity (TTC),” Revue de L’Electricite, Et De L’Electonique (Paris), Number 10, November 2007, pp. 37-43.

Article – “Global Jihadist Recidivism: A Red Flag,” in Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, March 2008 issue.

Courses Taught

BIOD 722 – Emerging Terrorist Groups

CRIM 475 – Terrorism: Theory and Practice

CRIM 490 – Counter-Terrorism Strategies, Policies, Programs, and Actions

CRIM 490 – Homeland Security: Current Threat and Actors

CRIM 490 - Al Qaeda and the Global Jihadist Movement

CRIM 490 - Terrorism: Radicalization and Recruitment