Anti-terror 101

The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

By Kerry Eskenas
From the September 2005 Print Edition

The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) is a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization that supports democratic nations and denounces the terrorists who try to undermine them. Steve Forbes, Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Frank Lautenberg, Newt Gingrich, and James Woolsey created it in response to the 9/11 attacks. Today, the organization is supported financially by individual philanthropists and foundations, and its advisers include both Democratic and Republican members of Congress. According to its official Web site, the organization’s main goals are to find the most effective ways to defeat terrorism, to conduct research about terrorism and communicate this information to the public, and to promote basic human rights and freedom around the world.

FDD defines terrorism as “intentional violence directed at noncombatants to achieve a political objective.” Although FDD acknowledges that terrorism will probably always exist to some degree, the organization views the Jihadist movement as a type of totalitarian movement that can be successfully defeated just as Nazism, Fascism, and Communism have been overcome in the past.

The organization holds three central beliefs. First, terrorists should be condemned no matter what their professed goals might be. In response to the notion that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter,” FDD insists that terrorist methods actually undermine the freedom that terrorists claim to be fighting for, and that there can be no justification for the deliberate murder of civilians. The second belief that FDD holds is that democracies have the right to defend themselves and, in addition, that they have an obligation to help defend other democracies. FDD’s third belief is that no one should be denied basic human rights. The organization emphasizes that the War on Terror is not a war against Islam, but instead is aimed at the extremists who declared war against liberal democracy in the United States on September 11, 2001.

After the 9/11 attacks, many in the United States realized that Israel is not the only country in which terrorism is a relevant threat. Both the United States and Israel are democracies, and both face the same enemy. It is this connection between Israel’s experience and the future of the United States that is the essence of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. When President George W. Bush set out to fight the War on Terror, it was natural to look to Israel for the knowledge and expertise necessary for defeating terrorists who could again strike the United States. According to FDD’s Web site, Bush has openly recognized FDD for its contributions to the War on Terror, saying “I appreciate your work to promote the cause of freedom and to educate and inform the public about issues we face as we battle this evil.”

Based in Washington, D.C., FDD produces publications such as the Global Jihad Monitor and also sponsors a variety of programs including a fellowship for undergraduate students. When I found out that I had been accepted into the FDD Undergraduate Fellowship program, I knew that this summer would be the experience of a lifetime for me.

Although I had been anticipating a rather boring summer, Professor A. James Gregor’s announcement about the FDD program caught my interest and convinced me to apply. I was selected along with 41 other students from across the United States to participate in the program, which includes an all-expenses-paid two-week trip to Israel this summer and a four-day trip to Washington, D.C., during winter break. In Israel, lectures are based on such topics as “Current Terrorist Threats to the United States,” “Roots of Islamic Fundamentalist Terror,” and “Israeli Counter-Terrorism Strategies.” The fellowship continues throughout the upcoming academic year, as there is a requirement for FDD fellows to stage at least five on-campus events that are pro-democracy and anti-terror in nature.

In Israel, FDD fellows stay at the University of Tel Aviv, where they hear “lectures from experts in the field of terrorism who will focus on issues relating to the threat that terrorism poses to democracies around the world.” These experts include scholars, intelligence officers, military officers, diplomats, and politicians, and they will be talking about the methods that Israel uses to deal with the constant threat of terrorism. These lectures intend to provide a starting point for addressing the problem of terrorism, and addressing the problem requires an understanding of the history of terrorism as well as the discovery of ways that a democratic nation can protect itself from those who wish to destroy it.

According to FDD’s Web site, 2002 program participant Abigail Hackman described her experience by declaring, “Of all the travel-abroad educational experiences available to college students, this is definitely the most unique in vision and implementation … I recommend the program to anyone who cares about the present and future security of our freedoms.”

If you’re interested in applying to next year’s program or would like to learn more about the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, please visit www.defenddemocracy.org. The application for next year’s Undergraduate Fellowship program will be posted in February 2006.

Go to www.calpatriot.org to read about Kerry’s trip to Israel with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

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