JINSA Holds Second U.S.-India-Israel Conference on Counter Terrorism

At the second annual trilateral conference on counter terrorism, leading experts from the United States, Israel and India met in Herzliya, Israel, Feb. 16-17 to forge a consensus on the importance of strategic cooperation in the war on terrorism. The first conference, held in February 2003 in New Delhi, was conceived and co-sponsored by JINSA. The 2004 conference was again sponsored by JINSA in conjunction with the International Policy Institute for Counter Terrorism (ICT), the Harold Hartog School of Government and Policy of Tel Aviv University and by Prof. M.D.

At the second annual trilateral conference on counter terrorism, leading experts from the United States, Israel and India met in Herzliya, Israel, Feb. 16-17 to forge a consensus on the importance of strategic cooperation in the war on terrorism. The first conference, held in February 2003 in New Delhi, was conceived and co-sponsored by JINSA. The 2004 conference was again sponsored by JINSA in conjunction with the International Policy Institute for Counter Terrorism (ICT), the Harold Hartog School of Government and Policy of Tel Aviv University and by Prof. M.D. Nalapat of India’s Manipal Academy of Higher Education and was arranged by ICT scholar Prof. Martin Sherman. The 2005 event will be held in Washington, D.C.

As a result of the conference, the American, Israeli and Indian delegations agreed to a multifaceted action plan to be carried out jointly by the sponsoring organizations and allied agencies as well as independently within the three countries. The plan calls for fostering cooperation between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to exchange experience and share relevant technologies, increase counter-terrorism cooperation among military and security related agencies in the three countries as well as in research and the development of enhanced counter-terrorism techniques, and establish frameworks to encourage the monitoring of possible radical Wahabbi-Khomeinist infiltration into scientific organizations relating to weapons of mass destruction.

“Our goal is to provide a forum where the experts can meet on an informal basis, expand on their previous work in mapping a trilateral plan-of-action, and form concrete goals and policy recommendations,” JINSA’s executive director Tom Neumann said.

The American delegation was composed of former New York Congressman Stephen Solarz*; veteran U.S. diplomat Harvey Feldman*; Dr. Steven Blank, Professor of Strategic Studies at the U.S. Army War College, and; Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, an expert on the funding of terrorism.

The Indian delegation featured Prof. M.D. Nalapat, director of the School of Geopolitics at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education; V. Adm. K.K. Nayyar, former vice chief of the Indian Navy; B. Raman, the former head of the counter-terrorism division of India’s external intelligence agency; Lt. Gen. R.K. Sawhney, former director general for Military Intelligence, and; Dr. Jagdish Shettigar, head of the Economics section of India’s ruling BJP Party.

The Israeli panelists included Dr. Martin Sherman of the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT); Brig. Gen. Doron Tamir, former chief Intelligence Officer for the IDF, and; R. Adm. Yedidia Ya’ari, commander of the IDF Navy.

Panel chairmen included Maj. Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Ben-Israel, former director of R&D for the IDF, and Maj. Gen. (res.) Eitan Ben-Eliahu, former commander of the IDF Air Force.

Keynote speakers were the Hon. Raminder Jassal, Indian ambassador to Israel; Ehud Olmert; deputy prime minister of Israel; Ze’ev Boim, deputy minister of defense of Israel; Dr. Uzi Landau, Israeli minister for Intelligence Services and U.S.-Israel Strategic Relations, and; Shabtai Shavit, former head of the Mossad.

* member of JINSA’s Board of Advisors