I’ve been a fan of Dr. Simon Johnson for a long time.    This MIT Sloan School professor always has some great ideas.

One of the ones he’s been promoting (along with fellow prof Dr. Jonathan Gruber) has been pushing technology and manufacturing centers to be established across this great country of ours.  There’s no reason why all the computer high tech business be located in Silicon Valley or biotech to be within the Route 128 corridor (Cambridge/Boston MA). 

No, we have some great university/industry combos (Johnson and Gruber have identified 120 of them) that can serve as national/regional centers. In so doing, we will be promoting great jobs all across America.  (If you want more information on this idea, you can check out one of my blogs that cover their premise here or purchase their book, Jump Starting America.)  In addition, when we do this, it makes it far more probable that the Senate and Congress will approve this (in a bipartisan fashion- really) because the benefits of the program are spread across many of their constituents.  (This is also part of the thinking  behind President Biden’s infrastructure program; the benefits are spread across the US.)

Which may explain how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) decided to set up the new National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center (NCITE).  It is NOT based in DC, with close proximity to the Pentagon or the NSA.  Nope- it’s deeply ensconced in the Midwest… in Omaha, Nebraska, as part of the University of Nebraska (Omaha)’s business school.  And, it coordinates the research activities at 15 universities across the USA- and Kings College in London (UK).

Dr. Gina Ligon is the head of NCITE (which is but one of ten specialized centers funded by DHS), as her team secured the funding for this multimillion dollar federal project. The goal of this center is to be an ideas factory, to stop coming up with the same old concepts that really don’t promote our ability to counter terrorist acts or be prepared for them before they occur.   The primary issue is to differentiate between extremism and violent extremism.  In other words, when folks move beyond their beliefs into action.   It’s the NCITE’s job to discern who they are and where they are right before they take those actions.

Part of the mandate is to navigate the conflicts between necessary tracking actions and civil liberties violations.  (This will always be a bugaboo when trying to navigate the anti-terrorist needs of America.)  It’s no longer about folks wearing white hoods, having shaved heads, flashing Nazi Flags, sporting Muslim fundamentalism, and the like.  It’s far more complicated than that.

Which is why folks on the left are terrified about expanded powers of the government squashing minorities and the marginalized.  And, folks on the right worry about ideology versus criminal behavior. (Note that NCITE is also examining why/how so many from the (active and retired) military and police participated in the 6 January insurrection at the Capitol.)

To be honest, the fact that NCITE is outside of the big metropolitan areas may render it far more capable in recognizing the extremists that are gaining traction across the USA.   They don’t jump right into profiling- instead they focus on tracking processes and data.   They want to know from where the money comes, how is the group organized, and the like.  In so doing, they will be able to provide tools that Homeland Security professionals can use to keep America safe.  (One of their projects is a follow-up [of sorts] to the work Jared Cohen was doing– how to change the mind of a terrorist.)

Let’s hope they get these tools up and running soon.

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