The first few months of 2022 can be summed up in one word: growth.
We were designated the DHS Center of Excellence for counterterrorism and terrorism prevention research in 2020, but this spring we got to launch our first grant competition to distribute approximately $1 million in new awards. After our initial call for proposals, we had 61 letters of intent to apply to join the NCITE consortium, resulting in 44 viable proposals submitted through our application portal in February.
Current NCITE consortium members got right to work conducting a thorough scientific review, ensuring that all selected proposals would generate new knowledge for terrorism scholars. Proposals also went to experts in the USG to conduct a relevancy review to determine how much each project would contribute to counterterrorism and terrorism prevention. Now the final selection task returns to us to identify and fund research projects that meet or exceed the scientific and relevancy criteria. This is a deliberate process by design. NCITE wants to be a careful steward of DHS funding for terrorism research.
Of course, we cannot fund all the outstanding proposals we received this year. However, we are hopeful this process resulted in greater exposure for every team that applied — proposals that might not have been awarded this round are on our radar. Stay tuned to our social media for an announcement of the new consortium members.
In addition to grant-funded consortium members, we have also grown through direct contracts from DHS. In this newsletter you will read about the work we are conducting through what the USG calls task orders, or direct contracts with various components of DHS to do specific work.
We plan to announce more detail on the contract-funded work, plus news on more growth in partners and projects in July.
We are in the early stages of planning for a fall NCITE research conference. We hope to invite researchers, government partners, and industry leaders to Omaha to grow in this mission together.
I hope you will find in this newsletter examples of how we are amplifying the work of the 19 institutions, 50+ researchers, and 120+ students all working to solve the most challenging issues in counterterrorism and terrorism prevention research. Thank you for sticking with us for the past two years, and I am hopeful that the next one will result in seeing you in person in Omaha!
GINA LIGON
NCITE Center Director
All about that BOA: How the Basic Ordering Agreement Taps NCITE Capabilities While Helping DHS
In the summer of 2021, DHS awarded NCITE a Basic Ordering Agreement, or BOA. A BOA is an umbrella agreement negotiated between the government and a performing institution.
NCITE’s BOA allows for DHS components and other federal partners to issue task orders directly to our Center of Excellence (COE) without further competition or review. Task orders have defined deliverables, timelines, and oversight, and can be issued for research, analysis and services aligned with the COE’s unique expertise.
Through the BOA, NCITE can:
Conduct classified work
Operate with more oversight
Meet specific task requests and defined deliverables
Through the BOA, federal agencies can:
Eliminate administrative burden of transferring funds within DHS
Issue task orders directly to a COE research lead institution
Set requirements for projects
Want to learn more?
Contact: universityprograms@hq.dhs.gov or ncite@unomaha.edu.
The BOA-funded work requires committed people in government and academia. Below, get to know Ajmal Aziz from DHS, Matt Allen, assistant professor of management and NCITE head of business strategy, and doctoral student Alexis d'Amato.
DHS program manager "cares about the work as well as the people"
Ajmal Aziz
Ajmal.
It’s a name you hear often at NCITE’s headquarters in Omaha. At end-of-day recap huddles. In hallway chatter among researchers fresh off an MS Teams call. At the office’s coffee counter as a fresh pot brews. I just hung up with Ajmal…We’ve got that meeting with Ajmal … Ajmal said …
Ajmal Aziz, program manager at the Department of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate, is tip-of-tongue for NCITE because of the growing collaboration between NCITE and Aziz’s role as federal gatekeeper for quicker-turn research tasks.
When Matt Allen and his wife Amanda packed up their Subaru with their two-year-old son and headed to Oklahoma for the holidays this past December, he felt struck by this first in many years — visiting family without catching a plane. That trip, Allen says, was one of the first times he realized Omaha could truly be home, something the NCITE head of business strategy, assistant professor of management, and I-O psychologist never thought would happen.
I’m a graduate assistant for Dr. Hunter's (UNO) and Dr. Miller’s (PSU) project on malevolent creativity. Dr. Hunter is also my advisor, so I work closely with him on other projects.
Q: What specifically are you working on day to day?
Recently, I’ve been identifying training needs for the Homeland Security Enterprise, so they can stimulate creative thought when they encounter problems (e.g., novel threats, ambiguous problems). I’ve also been researching threats to agricultural critical infrastructure and learning more about artificial intelligence regarding malevolent creativity.
How Salafi-jihadist, white supremacist groups compare in attack planning in the U.S.
This report from George Washington University's Program on Extremism looks at tactics and targets of attack plotters in the U.S., drawing on federal court records from 2014 to 2019.
NCITE researcher Iris Malone of George Washington University looked at how maritime security has evolved since 9/11 and identified pressing threats, key vulnerabilities, and strategies to build resilience.
NCITE is excited to celebrate its first cohort of graduates this spring and grateful to plan an in-person event that can involve family members, friends, and NCITE supporters.
Global Network on Extremism and Technology Conference
Hybrid: May 18-19
Panel 1 – Accelerationist Movements and the Manosphere
International Center for the Study of Radicalization Conference
Resolving the Detainee Dilemma for Men, Women, & Children of the Islamic State
Registration has opened for the first of a two-part conversation that will be hosted first at King's College London June 16-17. Information on panels and speakers to come.
Author and scholar Jason Warner on the Islamic State in Africa
Warner, assistant professor at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, spoke about his 2021 book, "The Islamic State in Africa." Austin Doctor, NCITE director of counterterrorism research initiatives, moderated the discussion.
NCITE Head of Strategic Operations Sam Hunter was named a 2022 fellow for the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. This honor recognizes outstanding contributions in the field. Hunter is a professor of I-O psychology who joined NCITE at the University of Nebraska at Omaha last year. He is an expert in malevolent creativity. Read about his NCITE research here.
NCITE Communications Team Student Member Lauren O'Malley won the UNO College of Business Administration's Stan Hille Award. Named for a former CBA dean, the award honors an outstanding business graduate student. O'Malley is graduating with her MBA. She played a major role in elevating NCITE's public image in Nebraska through state testimony and in a presentation to donors and local business leaders.
INSIDE NCITE
NCITE Excellence Fund
NCITE has established an account through the University of Nebraska Foundation as a step toward long-term sustainability. The fund will support students, researchers, and the UNO-based center as it strives to build community and national resilience against terrorism and targeted violence.
The UNO NCITE Excellence Fund (01159320) accepts funds electronically through the link below, or contributions may be mailed in name of the fund to 1010 Lincoln Mall Ste 300; Lincoln, NE 68508.
Send ideas for our next NCITEr edition to NCITE's egrace@unomaha.edu.
GRANT ACKNOWLEDGMENT & DISCLAIMER
The material on this website is based on work supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under Grant Award Number, 20STTPC00001‐02-01. The views and conclusions included here are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
UNO NONDISCRIMINATION POLICY
The University of Nebraska does not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and/or political affiliation in its education programs or activities, including admissions and employment. The University prohibits any form of retaliation being taken against anyone for reporting discrimination, harassment, or retaliation for otherwise engaging in protected activity. Read the full statement.
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