CSU to host recognized expert on ISIS threat

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a professor who wrote a book about "My Year Inside Radical Islam," is the guest speaker today at Columbus State University as part of the Col. Richard R. Hallock Lecture Series.

The adjunct professor in Georgetown University's Security Studies Program was invited to the 7:30 p.m. event by Tom Dolan, a professor in CSU's Department of Politics, Philosophy and Public Administration. Gartenstein-Ross will focus on violent non-state actors of terror and other challenges in the lecture at Blanchard Hall in the Cunningham Center.

Dolan said Gartenstein-Ross is a distinguished speaker on the topic. He was born in the United States and went off to college and converted to Islam. He became a radical follower before he ended up holding fundraisers for a group associated with al-Qaida.

"He is now on the other side of things," Doland said Friday.

Gartenstein-Ross is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense Democracies and a lecturer at the Catholic University of America. He is a consultant on challenges posed by violent non-state actors.

Dolan said Iran is recognized as problematic for state-sponsored terrorism. Such groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and the Islamic State may be supported by countries but are not actual governments.

Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is trying to change the nature of conflict the way things were 100 years ago when countries engaged in war over national boundaries or resources.

"Prior to that, we used to have the holy wars," Dolan said. "And what ISIS is trying to do is bring that back. That idea is their version of Islam versus the enemies of Islam."

College-aged students, including some Americans, are getting caught up as recruits for ISIS. An estimated 5,000 Europeans have signed up to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

"ISIS is using sophisticated tools, YouTube and social media, as a way to recruit these people," Dolan said. "It is not a simple matter of come and join our cause. They are very, very sophisticated."

Dolan said young people always have phones with them, and they are always on Facebook and other social media websites.

"That is where the ISIS recruiters are appealing to them," he said.

After a student goes off to college, you are suddenly away from family, a support system and friends.

"Someone says I've got a cause greater than anything you have ever seen," the professor said. "Come and help us save the world. This isn't the Peace Corps we are talking about."

The lecture series is funded by the Richard R. Hallock Foundation. Hallock was a decorated personal aide to Gen. Lucious D. Clay in Berlin after the war. After retiring, he found success with his Intrec and Quaestor corporations. He and his wife, Myriam Johnston Hallock, established the foundation before his death in 1999. She still lives in Columbus.

This story was originally published October 11, 2015 at 10:46 PM with the headline "CSU to host recognized expert on ISIS threat ."