An Intelligent Look At Terrorism With Phil Gurski

GCHQ is a famous British signals intelligence (SIGINT) agency perhaps best known for its work at Bletchley Park during WWII. The spy service decided to have its official history written – and chose a Canadian to do so! ►Find out more about my guest John Ferris►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/About my guest John FerrisJohn Ferris is a Professor of History at The University of Calgary, where he also is a Fellow at The Centre for Military and Strategic Studies. He received an MA (1980) and a PhD (1986) in War Studies, from King’s College, The University of London, United Kingdom. Find out more about my guest.About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-

Headlines are the first thing we see when we consume news.  They thus help us form a first impression. Should they then not be carefully written? Borealis looks at this issue in the context of RWE and the US military.About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/►Check Phil's latest book ''When Religion Kills'' - https://amzn.to/2ALdpoG►Website - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/►Twitter - https://twitter.com/borealissaves►LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-gurski-8942468/►Email - borealisrisk@gmail.comListen to my ongoing coverage of th

Security intelligence agencies are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Stop an act of violence from happening and they are called overbearing: fail to do so and they are called incompentent. In this podcast Borealis pushes back that the US intelligence community 'failed' on January 6.About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/►Check Phil's latest book ''When Religion Kills'' - https://amzn.to/2ALdpoG►Website - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/►Twitter - https://twitter.com/borealissaves►LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.co

Humans are notoriously unpredictable. Why would anyone try to say that something will most definitely happen? Borealis looks at attempts to be sure about terrorism and why this is a bad idea.About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/►Check Phil's latest book ''When Religion Kills'' - https://amzn.to/2ALdpoG►Website - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/►Twitter - https://twitter.com/borealissaves►LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-gurski-8942468/►Email - borealisrisk@gmail.com

Most people have either never heard of Yemen or know very little about it. The country is one of the world's poorest, is home to Islamist terrorist groups and is beset by a war with the involvement of foreign actors.  Borealis is joined by Yemen specialist Gregory Johnsen to get a better understanding of how we got there and what the stakes are.►Find out more about my guest Gregorry Johnsen►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/About my guest Gregory JohnsenGregory D. Johnsen, a former Fulbright Fellow in Yemen, is a PhD candidate at Princeton University and the Michael Hastings National Security Fellow at BuzzFeed. A frequent guest on NPR, he has contributed essays to the New York Times. He lives in Ithaca, New York. Find out more about my guest.About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (P

In the wake of the January 6 attacks in Washington, many are calling for the Proud Boys, a white supremacist group, to be added to the 'listed terrorist entities' in Canada.  What is a 'terrorist entity list' and what does it do?  Borealis argues that this is an unnecessary tool that does not add much to counter terrorism efforts.Read more:  ►Listed Terrorist Entities  - Public Safety Canada►NDP calls for right-wing group Proud Boys to be banned, labelled as terrorists - Global News ►Feds looking at declaring Proud Boys a terrorist organization in wake of U.S. rioting - CTVAbout the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radi

Terrorism specialist Phil Gurski tells Canada Now more about who exactly the protestors were in Washington, US law enforcement agencies' response, whether we can expect more of the same moving forward and what lessons can be learned coming out of all this. Canada Now with Jeff Sammut is live weekdays from 12-2pmET on Sirius XM Canada Talks channel 167.►Listen to yesterday's episode What the hell happened in Washington today?About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/►Check Phil's latest book ''When Religion Kills'' - https://amzn.to/2

In the wake of the events of January 6 in the US capital, Borealis is joined once again by Barbara Perry, Canadian academic who specialises on the far right as to what it all means and what we can expect moving forward.►Listen to yesterday's episode What the hell happened in Washington today?About my guest Dr. Barbara PerryDr. Barbara Perry is the Director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism. She has written extensively in the area of hate crime and right-wing extremism. Dr. Perry has also written on policing diverse communities, including work on social control in Native American communities. She has made substantial contributions to the limited scholarship on hate crime in Canada. ►Listen to my  October interview with Barbara Perry How serious is the far-right extremist threat in Canada? Are we taking it seriously enough?About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub a

A mog storms the US Senate. Sessions are ended, tear gas is strewn, chaos reigns.  So what was this? An act of terrorism? A riot? A coup?  A mob?  Borealis weighs in with what we know so far.►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.►Check Phil's latest book ''When Religion Kills'' - https://amzn.to/2ALdpoG►Website - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/►Twitter - https://twitter.com/borealissaves►LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-gurski-8942468/►Email - borealisrisk@gmail.com

We have seen iconic images online: such as MAGA hats, swastikas and ISIS flags.  What do these do to us and how do they lead is some cases to violent extremism?  Borealis is joined by Dr. Sophia Moskalenko to delve into these questions►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/About my guest Sophia MoskalenkoSophia Moskalenko researches terrorism and radicalization at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (NC-START) where she has worked on research projects commissioned by the Department of Defence, Department of Homeland Security and Department of State. Find out more about Dr Sophia MoskalenkoAbout the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing i

In the wake of information that the Christmas Day Nashville bomber believed in conspiracy theories, including the conviction that world leaders are actually extraterrestrial 'lizard people', does this now make his act one of terrorism?  Borealis weighs in on this new info and whether the bomber was treated differently because he was white.Read more on this topic:►Nashville explosion: Just what do we mean by ‘terrorism’? | Phil Gurski►The Nashville explosion is looking more and more like a spectacular suicide, not an act of terrorism | Phil Gurski►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown

As we impatiently wait for more details on what happened in Nashville on Christmas Day we are now aware that the perpetrator said the world would never forget him.  Does that make him a terrorist?  Probably not.  Borealis looks at serious acts of violence, including 'suicide bombings',  that are not terrorist in nature.Mentionned articles:Sometimes an explosion is just an explosion by Phil GurskiWhat we know about the 63-year-old Nashville bomber on CNNsimoncottee.orgDying Without Killing: Self‐Immolations, 1963–2002 by Diego GambettaAbout the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.►Check Phil's latest book '&a

The 2020 Global Terrorism Index had a bit of good news: terrorist deaths are down for the 4th year in a row.  Will that continue into 2021? Borealis provides some ideas on what will be making terrorism headlines next year.►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.►Check Phil's latest book ''When Religion Kills'' - https://amzn.to/2ALdpoG►Website - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/►Twitter - https://twitter.com/borealissaves►LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-gurski-8942468/►Email - borealisrisk@gmail.com

The recent explosion in Nashville has been deemed a 'suicide bombing'.  Was it?  We don't have a motive and we tend to see suicide bombings as acts of terrorism.  Are we using the word terrorism consistently?  Borealis looks at ways in which states and individuals twist the term to suit their purposes.►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.►Check Phil's latest book ''When Religion Kills'' - https://amzn.to/2ALdpoG►Website - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/►Twitter - https://twitter.com/borealissaves►LinkedIn - https://www.l

In the wake of terrorist attacks in France, President Emmanuel Macron said that Islam was 'in crisis'.  Not surprisingly, Muslim leaders pushed back, calling for boycotts of French goods.  So what is this all about?  Borealis is joined by Mustafa Akyol to look at the nuances of these issues.►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/About my guest Mustafa AkyolMustafa Akyol is a Turkish journalist and author.  SInce the early 2000's, he has been writing regular opinion columns for Turkish publications like Hurriyet Daily News, and recently for the Middle-East focused Al-Monitor.com. Since the fall of 2013, he is also a regular contributing opinion writer for The New York Times.About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Se

Many Muslim states went apoplectic when French President said that Islam was in crisis: French flags were burned  and boyocotts of French goods were planned.  And yet when it comes to what the PRC is doing with the incarceration of up to a million Uyghur Muslims there is no protest among these same states. What gives?  Borealis looks into this odd discrepancy.►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.►Check Phil's latest book ''When Religion Kills'' - https://amzn.to/2ALdpoG►Website - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/►Twitter - https://twitte

A Somali ISIS wannabe just stabbed two Australian octogenarians to death.  He had been arrested in 2019 for seeking to travel for terrorist purposes but was released for lack of evidence (although his passport was taken).  Now he has killed two innocent people.  What is going on here?  Borealis takes our judicial system to task.►Read►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.►Check Phil's latest book ''When Religion Kills'' - https://amzn.to/2ALdpoG►Website - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/►Twitter - https://twitter.com/borealissaves►LinkedI

Israel has been at the forefront of violence since its creation and this violence once threatened its very existence.  What is happening these days in that nation? Israeli analyst Joshua Krasna joins Borealis to look at these issues.About my guest Joshua KrasnaSenior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Program on the Middle East, is an analyst specializing in Middle East political and regional developments and forecasting, as well as in international strategic issues. Find out more about Joshua on my website.About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.►Check Phil's latest book ''When Religion Kill

Religion is a very personal thing and, for many, very important.  That it can make someone a better person is indeed a good thing, but that is not always the case.  For some, faith is something to impose on others, and, in some cases, kill for.  Borealis looks at blasphemy accusations and links to religious terrorism.►Read Blasphemy laws are still common around the world►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.►Check Phil's latest book ''When Religion Kills'' - https://amzn.to/2ALdpoG►Website - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/►Twitter - htt

In the aftermath of the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings, everyone is asking why Brenton Tarrant did what he did.  Was it is violent household?  His racist views?  His online habits?  Was any of this 'predictable'?  Borealis pushes back against the notion that we can detect these events in advance.►Read The warning signs in the Christchurch terrorist's Australian upbringing►Read How should security services handle threat information►Subscribe - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/subscribe/About the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.►Check Phil's latest book ''When Religion Kills'' - ht