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Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

Islamic Militants Murder Two Dozen Nigerian Christians over Christmas

Friday, January 8, 2021

Categories: ASCF News Terrorism

Comments: 0

Militant jihadists killed at least 24 people, abducted 20 more, and torched a church in two Christmas Eve attacks in northeast Nigeria, the Barnabas Fund reported Tuesday.

Islamists believed to belong to Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), an off-shoot of Boko Haram, kidnapped at least 20 Christians on Christmas Eve in Garkida, Adamawa State. The raiders chose five of their prisoners to be lined up and shot in cold blood in a terror attack the jihadists referred to as a “Christmas present” in a video of the event.

In their assault, the jihadists also torched homes, shops, cars, and bulldozers, sending the Garkida villagers fleeing. Some of those who fled are still missing.

One eyewitness said that the militants entered the town with about five vehicles and began shooting sporadically, and then proceeded to loot and ravage houses and pharmaceutical stores.

The attack was just the latest in a string of violent assaults in the country by Islamic terrorists.

Last February, the town of Garkida was targeted for a similar jihadist attack when Boko Haram militants arrived with 9 truckloads of men and more than 50 motorcycles and started shooting sporadically. Garkida is the birthplace of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN–the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria), which was founded in 1923.

Also on Christmas Eve, a band of armed Boko Haram Islamists stormed the mostly Christian village of Pemi, near Chibok, in Borno State, on trucks and motorcycles. The militants opened fire on villagers, killing eleven, and set buildings ablaze, including a church.

The terrorists also stole food supplies that were meant to be distributed to residents to celebrate Christmas and looted medical supplies from a hospital before setting it ablaze.

The militants, who reportedly came from the ISWAP base in the nearby Sambisa forest, also killed at least eight soldiers stationed at outposts in the region on the same night.

State officials had warned of a heightened risk of terror attacks during the Christmas period.

Photo: THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty

Link: Islamic Militants Murder Two Dozen Nigerian Christians over Christmas (breitbart.com)

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