France,12 February,2008--Senior Fellow of the Center for Advanced Defense Studies and professor at Université de Genève, Dr. Mathieu Guidère discusses his views about terrorism on the French talk show “Toutes les France”. Dr. Guidère stressed the fact that when talking about interrogation we should consider both sides, whether legitimate or not. He further elaborates that there could be individuals who create these problems like the Abu Graib scandal and that might not be a government policy.

When talking about the “Senja” file that was found in Iraq by the Americans, Dr. Guidère believes it wasn’t handled in a professional way. This document included 850 pages of Al-Qaeda operatives’ personal information along with detailed description of the time they spent in Iraq and by posting the findings on the internet the U.S has lost an advantage. In addition to that, he says that the secret services are incompetent on the cultural and linguistic level. Around one hundred thousand people work for secret services and almost eight hundred have Arab notions. The American embassy in Iraq has one thousand people working there and out of that only six have Arab notions.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, 30 October, 2007-- Senior Fellow Cyrus Hodes was invited by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP) to a panel discussion supported by NATO on: “Afghanistan – A Way Forward”. The panel took place at the House of Commons in London.

Moderated by Christopher Langton, IISS Senior Fellow for Conflict and Defence Diplomacy, the panel also included:

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 16-18 November, 2007 -- Senior Fellow Cyrus Hodes was invited by the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University (LISD) to a special colloquium, “State, Security and Economy in Afghanistan: Current Challenges, Possible Solutions”. This colloquium was part of a broader LISD research project on Afghanistan and the region, and the eighth in a series of LISD-sponsored conferences focusing on Afghanistan since October 2001.

PARIS, FRANCE, 29 October 2007 – The Center for Advanced Defense Studies Senior Fellow Cyrus Hodes delivered a brilliant speech focusing in on the importance of understanding Afghanistan and its significance in recognizing and comprehending other global and regional problems.

Mr. Hodes' expertise on Afghanistan results from a series of studies and missions since 1998, when he was in charge of the French emergency NGO Solidarités and its Kabul programs.

PARIS, FRANCE, 29 October 2007 – Senior Fellow of the Center for Advanced Defense Studies and professor at Université de Genève, Dr. Mathieu Guidère lead a discussion about one of the subjects that will be taught in the new joint Masters program between the Catholic Institute of Paris, the Paris-based Fondation pour la recherche stratégique (Strategic Research Foundation) and the Center for Advanced Defense Studies in International Relations focused on "New Risks and Threats to International Security."

More specifically he spoke of the key points on the importance of political discourse analysis using linguistic techniques and informatics to better understand the changing political terrain and extremist groups.