The War Within: Understanding the Fight Against Islamic Extremism
On May 23, Ambassador Alberto Fernandez, Former State Department Coordinator for the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications, and Imam Suhiab Webb, founder of CenterDC, joined alumni and current participants in the Congressional Partnership Program (CPP) and discussed methods currently being used to counter Islamic extremism. This off-the-record round table discussion focused on how the government and local organizations are countering extremist recruitment and fundamentalist ideology.
Alberto Fernandez
Ambassador Fernandez is the Vice President, Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Amb. Fernandez served as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer from 1983 to 2015, and as the State Department’s Coordinator for the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications from March 2012 to February 2015. He has served as ambassador to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea (2009-2012), Charge d’Affaires to the Republic of Sudan (2007-2009), and held senior public diplomacy positions at the U.S. Embassies in Afghanistan, Jordan, Syria, and Guatemala. Fernandez was the director of the office of press and public diplomacy in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department from 2005 to 2007.
Suhaib Webb
Imam Webb is an American Muslim Scholar based out of Washington DC. He is a Graduate of University of Central Oklahoma with a background in Education & Azhar University from the College of Shariah (Islamic Law & Jurisprudence). He was named as one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims by The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, which is an international Islamic non-governmental, independent institute headquartered in Amman, Jordan.