Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Senior Fellow Amb. David Smith, (Ret.), is the Director of the Georgian Security Analysis Center in Tbilisi, Georgia. In a recent column for Georgian media, he writes about the Georgian contribution to the mission in Afghanistan. Smith describes how Georgian troops have been trained by US Marines and have accompanied the Marines into combat. He writes that "Georgia insisted on taking a full (and dangerous) combat role," and that it wanted its units to operate under the command of American Marines. 
The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies is pleased to announce that Erin Fitzgerald, PhD, has joined the Institute as a Research Fellow in the Policy Research Division. Dr. Fitzgerald supports the Basic Science Office within the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. She works primarily to manage the Minerva Research Initiative, a university-based basic research program with the goal of improving fundamental understanding of the social, cultural, behavioral, and political forces that shape regions of the world of strategic importance to the US.
Read more: Erin Fitzgerald, PhD, Joins Policy Research Division
The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies is pleased to announce that The Honorable Donald M. Kerr, PhD, has joined the Institute as a Senior Fellow and Member of the Board of Regents. Dr. Kerr is a distinguished scientist who has held several prominent positions in government service and private industry. He has served as Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Director of the National Reconnaissance Office, Deputy Director for Science and Technology at the Central Intelligence Agency, and Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in charge of the Laboratory Division. He has been honored with the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal and the CIA Distinguished Intelligence Medal. Dr. Kerr is a Research Professor in George Mason University’s Volgenau School of Engineering, and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the MITRE Corporation. He is also a member of the Defense Science Board.
Prof. James Giordano, PhD, is a neuroscientist, Vice President for Academic Programs and Director of the Center for Neurotechnology Studies at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. In an essay for a Government Security News series on national security since 9/11, he writes about increasing interest in the use of neuroscience and neurotechnology to predict - and perhaps prevent - violence and terrorism. He writes that while we are "headed inexorably down this path," it is an avenue strewn with legal, social and ethical hazards. 
The Potomac Institute Press is pleased to announce the forthcoming release of the new book Al-Qa'ida: Ten Years After 9/11 and Beyond, (Potomac Institute Press, 2012) by Institute Chairman and CEO Michael Swetnam and ICTS Director Prof. Yonah Alexander, PhD. The authors previously collaborated on a 2001 landmark book on al-Qa'ida entitled Usama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida: Profile of a Terrorist Network (