Malcolm Nance to present Fall 2016 Manatt-Phelps Lecture in Political Science

AMES, Iowa – There are differing opinions on what it will take to defeat ISIS – the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. An internationally renowned counterterrorism analyst will share his insights when he presents the Fall 2016 Manatt-Phelps Lecture in Political Science at Iowa State University on Monday, Oct. 17.

Malcom Nance portrait

Malcom Nance will provide analysis of the global terrorist group in a presentation titled, “The Dynamics of ISIS: Its Origins and Implications for the United States,” at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Union’s Great Hall. The presentation is free and open to the public. A reception and book signing will follow in the South Ballroom of the Memorial Union.

Nance is a counterterrorism and intelligence adviser for the U.S. government’s special operations, homeland security and intelligence agencies. During his career, he has witnessed or participated in response operations for numerous terrorist incidents including the TWA 847 hijacking, the attack on the USS Cole and the 9/11 attacks. He has been deployed on numerous clandestine operations in the Balkans, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.

A decorated veteran and former Navy Intelligence officer, Nance has 30 years of experience in field and combat intelligence activity, including as an Arabic-speaking field interrogator. As a terrorism analyst, he contributes regularly to NBC News and MSNBC and is a frequent guest on CNN, ABC News, FOX, BBC, Al-Jazeera, and other television and radio shows. Nance is currently the executive director of the Terror Asymmetrics Project on Strategy, Tactics, and Radical Ideologies in Hudson, New York.

“It is hard to imagine a more important and timely topic or a more authoritative person to present this year’s lecture than Malcolm Nance,” said Los Angeles attorney Tom Phelps, one of the sponsors of the lecture series. “His experience in counterterrorism and intelligence place Mr. Nance among the few true experts on terrorism threats faced by the west and what we can do to better protect against them.”

During his public lecture, Nance will discuss his recent book, “Defeating ISIS: Who They Are, How They Fight, What They Believe,” which provides a highly detailed, illustrated analysis of the history and tactics of the global terrorist group and how to defeat it. His new book, “The Plot to Hack America: How Putin’s Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election,” details how technicians discovered that Russia’s spy agency was responsible for the hack of the Democratic National Committee servers in an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Nance, who has been praised by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow as “one of the great unsung national security geniuses of our age,” is also the author of “The Terrorist Recognition Handbook: A Practitioner’s Manual on Predicting and Identifying Terrorist Activity”; “Terrorists of Iraq: Inside the Strategy and Tactics of the Iraq Insurgency 2003-2014”; and “An End to al-Qaeda: Destroying Bin Laden’s Jihad, Restoring America’s Honor.”

“Students will benefit greatly from Malcolm Nance’s expertise in addressing the origins and consequences of global terrorism,” said Mack Shelley, University Professor and chair of political science. “He will share his experiences and insights on one of the most important problems of the 21st century. His presentation is a must-see for anyone interested in international issues, terrorism or national security.”

About the Manatt-Phelps Lecture

The Manatt-Phelps Lecture in Political Science was established in 2002 at Iowa State by Charles T. and Kathleen Manatt and Tom and Elizabeth Phelps. Manatt, who served as U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic, gave the first lecture in the series in 2002. He passed away in 2011.

Previous Manatt-Phelps lectures have featured distinguished leaders from America’s closest trading partners – Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Canada’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs – and ambassadors from crucial American allies and friends – France, Germany, India, Spain and Sweden. Other lecturers have been presented by then-U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.); then-U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.); former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.); and Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne.

In addition to the Manatt and Phelps families, the fall 2016 Manatt-Phelps Lecture in Political Science is co-sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Department of Political Science; Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics; and the Committee on Lectures, which is funded by the Student Government.