A pioneer in the field of CVE (Countering Violent Extremism), Farah Pandith spent over a decade developing strategies to prevent and defend against the spread of extremist ideology, a policy area that has been under the microscope since President Trump declared his intention to “unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism which we will eradicate completely from the face of the earth,” during his inaugural address on January 20^th.

At a Future of Diplomacy Project seminar on February 13, Pandith spoke about the evolution of CVE policy and the importance of soft power in combating the spread of extremist ideology. She identified three distinct phases in the development of US counter-terrorism strategy after September 11.

Farah Pandith argues that Donald Trump's anti-Muslim statements have costly consequences that will erode US credibility abroad.

Farah Pandith (@Farah_Pandith), Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center’s Future of Diplomacy Project and formerly the first ever Special Representative to Muslim communities at the U.S. State Department, sits down with Aroop Mukharji (@aroopmukharji) to talk about how to curb the spread of violent extremism, particularly among Muslim youth.

Farah Pandith (@Farah_Pandith), Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center’s Future of Diplomacy Project and formerly the first ever Special Representative to Muslim communities at the U.S. State Department, sits down with Aroop Mukharji (@aroopmukharji) to talk about how to curb the spread of violent extremism, particularly among Muslim youth.

IT’S NEARLY unfathomable that two San Bernardino parents could nonchalantly drop off their six-month-old baby and embark on a shooting spree, murdering 14 people in the name of a terrorist organization. Yet theirs is hardly an isolated impulse. According to FBI Director James Comey, there are currently 300 American-based sympathizers online. The FBI is pursuing 900 active cases in all 50 states, and 71 individuals have been arrested on terrorism-related charges this year alone. As facts like these make clear, American youth are not immune to extremist ideology, and we should be doing far more to protect them.

In Blindspot: America’s Response to Radicalism in the Middle East, authors share their insights and analysis on radical extremism in the Middle East, what it means for Americans, and how the United States should respond. The book is the product of the nonpartisan Aspen Strategy Group’s August 2015 meeting on America’s response to radicalism in the Middle East.  This book helps to decipher extremist ideology, place it in its larger global context, and suggest ways to defend American interests in the Middle East in the years ahead. The book offers a collection of policy proposals for the turbulent future ahead in the Middle East. A video of the book launch featuring Jim Cartwright, Jane Harman, and Richard Fontaine in conversation with Richard Fontaine can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc-8MXOR3ic.

Thank you for inviting me to share my perspective and experience. My name is Farah Pandith, and for eleven years I served as a political appointee for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama, most recently as our government’s former first-ever Special Representative to Muslim Communities. I felt deeply honored to serve our nation at the highest levels in a post 9/11 environment and to work on an issue that is, in my opinion, one of this century’s most serious and misunderstood.

Farah Pandith, a Senior Fellow at the Future of Diplomacy Project, provides her answer to the question "What should the U.S. do about ISIS?" in this piece for National Journal.

CNN terror analyst Paul Cruickshank and former State Dept. special representative to Muslim communities Farah Pandith on "The Lead."