Daniel Byman is a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, where his research focuses on counterterrorism and Middle East security. He previously served as the research director of the center. He is also a professor in the Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service's Security Studies Program. Previously, Byman served as a staff member with the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States (“The 9/11 Commission”) and the Joint 9/11 Inquiry Staff of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. Prior to that, Byman was a policy analyst and the director for research in the Center for Middle East Public Policy at the RAND Corporation and worked for the U.S. government. His most recent book is “Spreading Hate: The Global Rise of White Supremacist Terrorism” (Oxford University Press, 2022). He is the author of several other books on counterterrorism, state sponsorship of terrorism, and conflict and terrorism in the Middle East.
Affiliations:
Georgetown University, professor
Google, part-time consultant
International Institute for Counterterrorism, Herzliyya, Israel
International Security, editorial board
Lawfare, foreign policy editor
Political Science Quarterly, editorial board
Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, editorial board
Terrorism and Political Violence, editorial board
The Washington Quarterly, editorial board
U.S. Department of State, Office of the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, senior advisor (part-time special government employee)
Daniel Byman is a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, where his research focuses on counterterrorism and Middle East security. He previously served as the research director of the center. He is also a professor in the Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service’s Security Studies Program. Previously, Byman served as a staff member with the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States (“The 9/11 Commission”) and the Joint 9/11 Inquiry Staff of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. Prior to that, Byman was a policy analyst and the director for research in the Center for Middle East Public Policy at the RAND Corporation and worked for the U.S. government. His most recent book is “Spreading Hate: The Global Rise of White Supremacist Terrorism” (Oxford University Press, 2022). He is the author of several other books on counterterrorism, state sponsorship of terrorism, and conflict and terrorism in the Middle East.
Affiliations:
Georgetown University, professor
Google, part-time consultant
International Institute for Counterterrorism, Herzliyya, Israel
International Security, editorial board
Lawfare, foreign policy editor
Political Science Quarterly, editorial board
Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, editorial board
Terrorism and Political Violence, editorial board
The Washington Quarterly, editorial board
U.S. Department of State, Office of the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, senior advisor (part-time special government employee)
Right now, the regime has the upper hand, controlling most of the country. Assad thinks he's won. So, to him, there's really no need to negotiate... The U.S. and its international allies were in it to kill ISIS, not to bring down Assad. The U.S. could have intervened more forcefully from the beginning. However, the Obama administration was concerned about 'winning' and then owning a shattered country: Iraq 2.0... Various opposition factions, some of which enjoy Turkey's support, remain active in north and northeastern Syria. Part of the area is controlled by Kurdish-dominated forces, which work with the United States, fear Turkey, and have an uneasy modus vivendi with the Syrian regime. [For the Gulf states,] it was mostly about containing Iran, though many resented Assad for other reasons and saw most of the opposition as deserving of support. [The war] quickly became a sectarian conflict, and this colored the lens for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states... The [humanitarian] situation is beyond horrible... As long as the various players can get resources, the fighting will be hard to stop.
We don’t know how bad it’s going to be, but the chances for violence are greater than in any recent previous election... [President Trump's comments to the Proud Boys, telling them to "stand back and stand by" is] a message that many counterterrorism analysts perceived as a dog whistle, or maybe just a regular whistle, to the far-right.
Russia wants chaos and violence serves that, violence divides, violence reduces trust in institutions....[In terms of Russia's support for white nationalists,] what happens if we find that there is an individual who was triggered by something Russia-linked? What does that mean? Does it simply get lost in the noise? Or is it that Russia becomes responsible for the deaths of several Americans? I think that Russia is playing with fire, and under Trump that hasn't been a big deal, because he has downplayed it. But under a traditional Republican or someone like Joe Biden it'd be a much bigger deal.
