Tunisia, Kuwait and France: the latest targets of global terrorism

On 30 June 2015, the European Foundation for Democracy hosted a closed-door policy briefing to discuss how civil society can and needs to work more closely with authorities in responding to the threat of terrorism. The guest speakers were Ambassador Mark Wallace, who serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), which was launched in September 2014, as well as Dr. August Hanning, the former State Secretary in the Federal Interior Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany in Berlin from 2005 to 2009 and Director Federal Intelligence Service (BND) from 1998 to 2005.

The almost simultaneous attacks that took place in France, Tunisia and Kuwait are yet another reminder that the current terrorist threat that the international community is facing is not only asymmetrical but increasingly global in nature. As such, in order to be effective the response also needs to be global and well coordinated. During the briefing, the guest speakers discussed progress made in developing counter-narrative programmes and outlined some of the initiatives that are being undertaken to prevent and counter this growing threat.