Press Release
from Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
Harvard Kennedy School second-year MPP students Léa Steinacker, Julia Stern, and Olivia Zetter traveled to Washington D.C. in February to attend part of the first-ever White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE). Stern and Zetter are Belfer Center International Global Affairs (BIGA) student fellows.
Three years after the release of President Obama’s national security strategy on domestic CVE, the event brought together practitioners from local, national, and foreign governments, academia, and the private sector, to share best practices on community-based approaches. The Kennedy School students were recommended for the summit by Farah Pandith, Belfer Center senior fellow, who served previously as the first-ever special representative to Muslim communities, appointed by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Since the release of the strategy, three U.S. cities – Boston, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis – have piloted CVE frameworks tailored to individual communities, and presented their findings at the Summit. Participants also heard from the mayor of Paris, who spoke passionately about the danger of radicalization among young people, one month after the fatal attack on the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo. In all cases, government representatives highlighted the need for engagement and cooperation across communities in order to truly counter the threat of radicalization.
A number of tech companies behind prominent social networks that have been affected by violent extremist content were also present at the Summit. Given the increasing role of and rapidly changing trends in social media use by extremists to propagate their ideas and recruit sympathizers, IT industry representatives emphasized various methods to counter online radicalization, such as identifying and deleting content and elevating moderate voices.
Three common themes emerged from the day’s panels. 1) The importance of a community-driven approach to CVE and community-led initiatives; 2) a conscious shift from intelligence-oriented programs to true community engagement and trust-building by law enforcement; and 3) the importance of understanding and addressing the online arena in CVE.
In conjunction with the Summit, the administration announced new measures to advance domestic CVE efforts and social media-specific solutions.
The first-ever senior level, full-time CVE Coordinator has been appointed at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and $15 million is being sought for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to fund community-led efforts. A joint DHS-DOJ symposium will be held to share best practices on intervention and prevention. Meanwhile, a non-governmental “CVE Hub” will be established to connect, organize, and enable community groups, funders, academics, and the tech sector towards creative, agile, and sustainable solutions for domestic CVE.
To address the online sphere, private sector-led “technology camps” will be held with a range of stakeholders to design innovative digital content against extremism. A new partnership with the United Arab Emirates will establish a digital communications hub to produce material countering violent extremist propaganda. Moreover, the State Department will launch a Peer-to-Peer Challenge to empower university students around the world to develop moderate narratives. A Special Envoy for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications in the Department will coordinate these USG efforts.
The initiatives outline a “whole of nation” approach that recognizes the necessary roles of community members, local government, and the private sector, as well as the importance of collaboration between the three.
Given their professional interest in matters of national security as well as their PAE focus on countering extremism, Steinacker, Stern, and Zetter benefited greatly from attending the summit.