The International Security program aims to provide evidencebased analysis of some of the toughest security challenges facing american policy makers and the public. From homegrown american terrorism to United States drone wars abroad and the proliferation of drones around the world to the profound changes in warfare brought by new technology and societal changes. Id like to introduce jesse morton who will begin with a presentation on their new initiative before we jump into the panel information. Jesse was once a jihadist propagandist who ran revolution muslim, a new york city based organization active in the 2000s and connected to a number of terrorism cases. He connected al qaedas ideology and transformed it for america, creating english language propaganda. Morton deradicalized in 2011 following his arrest in casablanca and incarceration in the u. S. Hes now executive director of parallel networks. After jesses presentation, ill invite the rest of our speakers to join me onstage and briefly provide an introduction for each of them. Well address the changing threat land shape, future terrorism prevention practices. Well save the last 30 minutes or so for audience q a. And with that, ill hand it over to jesse. Hand it over to jesse. Good afternoon. So afternoon and thank you for attending todays event. Id like to stress special gratitude to new america for hosting todays event, a Civil Society approach to preventing terrorism and targeted violence. Todays event is important as it announces controlaltdelete hate. It is a magazine in printing and online. Well pass around copies. It is an approach to combatting extremism weve been building out since we got started. You can see the cover of the First Edition which went online this morning but the initiative is more than just a mere counternarrative tool. It is part of our innovative and wholist particular approach to addressing the threat by enhancing and enforcing extremisms here in the u. S. First, a little bit on the projects back ground. Its important to realize its not a standalone initiative. Its more than just a magazine. For over a year now, mitch and i with the assistance of many supporters and in particular the counterextremism project have been working on a comprehensive program that can consist of combatting the mounting threat by far right extremism. In fact my partnership with mitch was announced publicly on june 4th, 2018, with an event right here at new america. Documented the nefarious legacy i once built as a jihadi propagandist and mitch calm batted with the nypd as director of intelligence. Since then we have learned a great deal. After researching, networking, designing programs we launched the ecosystem in which controlaltdelete hate. Victims of extremism, activists, researchers, supporters and others that believe in our motto. Thinking about it started a year ago during a week of flurried activity that made it apparent we needed to get moving and fast. The adaptivity included the tree of life synagogue attacks which occurred and a white supremacist that tried to get into a africanamerican church and shot two elderly africanamericans in a supermarket in kentucky. Things have gotten a lot worse since then but we started at that time to select a team of formers and victims of rightwing extremism that can serve alongside to help us expand into the rightwing space going forward. At the core of our network jeff scoep, myself and others like Brad Galloway who is also here and hope hyder, an africanamerican woman whose father was murdered by a white supremacist and she actually is in contact with the individual that murdered him and provides sort of support and empathy. These have been our interventionists over the past year and at the same time weve supported and informed one another. It is a byproduct of these yearlong efforts. Its the beginning of our answer, particularly in the rightwing space. So id like to talk a little bit about our unique approach to this problem. We believe that formers offer an unrivaled insight, particularly when teamed with a collection of others from different fields. Our efforts draw from a transdisciplinary model that we call the parallel network philosophy. It takes an ecosystemic approach that expands cve activities so standalone help lines with no outreach and little pub lislie in marketing or failed campaigns that cannot reach their targeted audience are essentially ineffective because they are not connected to a Broader Network or movement. Instead of creating an alternative network or movement you might describe it as one that seeks to rival in size and scope and cohesive world view the network that ties extremists together. Only then we believe can you map that networks impact, the parallel networks impact and measure the result of interventionoriented engagement. So it will serve as a cornerstone of these efforts. A bit more on the history and how this template was established. The control alt delete methodology to will be disseminated. When i was a recruiter and propagandist on behalf of al qaeda from 2003 to 2011 i collaborated with several premiere jihadists to have the english jihadist magazines. I wrote the lead article for the first issue. After my new york city based organization threatened the writers of south park for portraying the prophet muhammad, they launched their own called inspire. So over the years these magazines weaponized propaganda in ways unseen beforehand. So mitch and i came up with the idea of taking that template back i once initiated and using it for positive purposes. So we designed a counternarrative product that outside jihadist in Graphic Design and structure. We included articles that deconstructed the jihadist ideology, included the testimony of formers like myself and offered a positive alternative world view that we call our dialogue of civilizations model, equally applicable as we address whats perceived threats on the far right for the ethno state that they categorize as western civilization. A month before the launch, we inaugurated a corehosting hub for control alt delete hate as well and will embed it there. We launched the first issue. Before the launch even got the Counterterrorism Community and jihadist sympathizers to believe that isis was about to launch a new english language magazine. That coupled with a media rollout that generated publicity forced extremist recruiters to respond as we invaded their eco chambe chambers. It is the only counternarrative product that has used where extremists, including the far right, are migrating as a result of efforts by mainstream social Media Companies such as facebook, twitter and youtube, to remove extremist content. When we first launched it, the jihadist preaches were angry. We kept popping up in their closed discussion groups with the magazine because we had multiple moles in their network. That led them to engage me in private discourse where we were screen shotting what we provided. We bumped evidence of the ignorance of their leadership and their ability to respond to their netted works back into the jihadist networks, spamming them against those they hold as leaders. At the same time it connects to interventions. G its not a standalone example. After coming over to threaten me on twitter, ive established good relations and am supporting a prominent individual that caused quite a bit of fan fare when he returned back to the west having joined isis in syria but remains free. Several similar interventions have resulted as a result. So now each article in each edition serves as a standalone piece on the website and is utilized for linking to engagements, sharing over social media and putting into extremist conversation threads online. We also use it for prevention. In 2020 well print hard copies and visiting cities around the United States speaking publicly with our core team to raise awareness and promote our intervention services. Now that weve launched control alt delete hate we can use the same method to domestic collectives while also discussing reciprocal radicalization. So the emagazine becomes not a standalone magazine nor something too insignificant in scope and application to have an actual impact. Next ill elaborate a bit on the holistic nature of the product and how it fits into the ecosystem. Its more than the name of a magazine. Its something that we utilize as a clear paradigm in conducting personal and collective transformations. Based on keystrokes and playing off the popularized altright brand name, it offers a unique framework for story telling and transformation. The first stage, control, is to pause and process when confronted with extremist behavior ideology. As holocaust survivor Victor Frankel once stated, between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. And in our response lies our growth and our freedom. So our approach is dedicated to imparting this dedication. Control transitions to alt which looks at altering course. To recognize we need to look not just at the response to extremism and how we react to it but to create alternative courses which address often legitimate grievances. The alt phase turns to delete hate, a phase that asks us all to recognize that in such a tumultuous period, only a whole of Society Approach can address the threat and surrounding issues. Individuals can grasp deradicalization. Collectives can contributing and the message of the magazine has an underlying methodology that can transition into a paradigm in process for individual and collective alteration. Shift hate is the next hate of our ecosystem. This is where oneonone engagements occur which the authors in the First Edition of the magazine and other support staff have facilitated. It stands for support and help by individuals and families touched by hate. Under that umbrella we run a 24 7 help line and have unrivaled access to online extremist networks. Without any marketing or support from government or social Media Companies, weve already conducted 100 interventions. For example, jeff and a young female former far right propagandist are here with us today and offer case studies of those that have benefitted from the parallel network philosophy. We contact those that disengage publicly from extremist movements and offer them support as well. Weve used shift to provide some of the only support services to terrorismrelated offenders returning to our streets after their incarceration and utilized their case studies for recommendations on how to address their concerns in a paper released last year, when terrorists come home, again with the support of the counterextremism project. So the final component of the ecosystem is save hate. If shift hate offers a deficit approach, save hate seeks to build out the network i was referencing that can transform essentially into a movement. Extremists dont simply offer a message, they offer a coherent world view and counterculture, a community built on axioms. They develop ecochambers where opposition is drowned out. Extremist recruiters think multi dimensionally and remain fluid. They adjust almost ingt u. S. Ly. Save hate is an effort to match and reverse engineer the extremist method we know. It utilizes influencers whom we call our shape shifters and concentrates on formulating that parallel network, that network built on principles antithetical to hate and offer a complete world view and alternative to the extremist eco chamber. Though the parallel network ecosystemic, you can see light upon light serves as the core hub. It generates safe spaces free of hate and hosts all of our activity. Each entity, control alt delete hate, shift hate and save hate is there. Its a manner that creates opportunities for individuals and groups to experience the same meaning, significance and sense of belonging extremists offer. Second is research. The understanding today is that evidencebased initiatives with measurable outcomes must precede implementation. We seek instead to learn my doing and then measure outcomes. Extremism is fluid. The lag associated with topdown social science often means the implementation of datadriven interventions that are no longer appropriate in a climate that has already shifted. We first start the growth of the parallel network. Then measure engagements effectively only once the network coalesces and can measured against the contraction or expansion of the extremists we seek to alter. Partnerships is key. Theres currently too much competition and not enough collaboration in the pve cve space. Victims of extremism and shape shifters all do things independently but their engagement with the activity in the light upon light ecosystem allows their efforts to magnify. It becomes less about the individual and more about the movement. Think about the way charismatic preachers and propagandists operate under extremist brands but still become individual icons, representatives that embody the mission of their respective causes and organizations. The control alt delete hate magazine helps us build out positive messaging. That messaging will lead to broader messaging and Public Awareness and save hate will continue to provide a key means of networking to expand the movement. All of these components feed off of and into each other. From a social Service Perspective they are designed to approach violent extremism as a Public Health phenomenon and demar kate each component so it can fulfill levels of education, harm reduction, intervention, countermessaging, Restorative Justice and rehabilitation, the whole social service spectrum. Finally, then, going forward. Now we have to advance and expand the parallel network. Weve only been up and running this for publicly light upon light ecosystem for six months. Well expand it with activity within each of the ecosystems essential components. So well build out more research. We have heavily embedded and are in contact with networks such as antifa, proud boys, where control alt delete hate will be disseminated. Weve contacted several of the hubs of those communities to do so. Our Grassroots Efforts have established sufficient sample sizes necessary for research. Well release a report and pursue other initiatives as well. Well look to form more partnerships. Weve been networking with the peace Building Community and already put together an Impressive Team that will organize a center for the study of trauma in radicalization. Weve collaborated with ideas beyond borders to translate the magazine into arabic and to expand our influence into the muslim majority world. Well take back isis news letter utilizing the same approach. Were looking to expand into australia, into canada, and western europe as well. Well engage social Media Companies and request their support promoting the shift hate help line and make sure users looking for extremist content are provided access and pathways to the light upon light messaging hub. Light upon light itself will increase its coverage of extremistrelated activity. We see a communicate hub and online portal that can host Grassroots Research and journalism, that can advance podcasts, online videos and other media, that can arm public with information and confront coverage and commentary that enhances resilience and offer a world view with a collective nonpolarizing consciousness. As far as shift hate interventions, weve been advocating for a governmental assistance. It might reduce public criticism of cve and government involvement within and provide an alternative to sole reliance on investigation and interdiction. This might add a tool to the counterterrorism toolbox. Mechanisms for society like our own to conduct targeted interventions. We put together a proposal for next year that would ultimately lead to uniformity and internal record keeping, advance an online course to train and empower our key interventionists with information, instruction and skills in communication. We want to replicate essentially the field of Substance Abuse treatment. A field that has evolved to rely on former addicts to produce improved outcomes. As for save hate well utilize our partnerships to increase the number of our shape shifters. Well be looking to present the magazines to 15 different cities in the United States, particularly well speak there, enhance awareness, educate those on the front lines, impart better understanding of risk indicators and in turn well expand the save hate initiative. After our visit well remain contact with those communities so theyll know were available to support their own localized efforts. Now, in conclusion we are very honored to be here today. As a society we need to effectively already pause in that space between stimulus and response, to alter course and recognize that each of us does in fact have a role to play and ability to address the consequences of polarization, hate and extremism. As Albert Einstein once put it, no problem has ever been solved at the same level of consciousness that created it. We seek nothing less than a paradigm shift in the realm of preventing and encounters violent extremism. I look forward to todays discussion. Thank you very much for joining us. [ applause ] so now id like to call everyone to the stage. Ill give some quick intros, so thank you, jesse. So first to my immediate left is mitch silber, the ceo of parallel networks, an organization he cofounded with jesse morton. Hes a founding principal at the Guardian Group and security and intelligence consulting firm. He served adds director of intelligence analysis at the nypd where he was a principal counterterrorism advisor to the Deputy Commissioner of intelligence and was responsible for building out and managing the analytic and cyber units. Then next i have Brad Galloway. Bradley galloway is a research and intervention specialist with the organization for prevention of violence which is based in edmonton, alberta. Recently brad has joined with parallel networks and light upon light to work on initiatives to counter hate and violent extremism in the United States. Next to him is jeff schoep. He was one