Oil and Terrorism in the New Gulf examines the national security implications of U.S. energy security policies in the Middle East, and the emerging U.S. involvement in oil exploration and extraction in West Africa. Similar political, social, and economic challenges_poverty, corruption, lack of infrastructure, and weak governments_are seen in the oil-producing states of both the Middle East and Africa. Drawing comparisons between these two regions allows Forest and Sousa to formulate policy recommendations for how to handle foreign policy toward Africa in the future based on lessons learned from past interaction with the Middle East. Oil and Terrorism in the New Gulf promises to inform a lively debate over the future of U.S. foreign policies toward Africa and is a valuable resource for policymakers and the academic community that should be approached in a coherent, integrated fashion to ensure the success of the United State's energy and national security agendas.
James J.F. Forest, Ph.D. is an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on terrorism and security studies, and a senior fellow with the Joint Special Operations University, where he holds a TS/SCI security clearance with the U.S. Department of Defense.
Dr. Forest is the former Director of Terrorism Studies at the United States Military Academy. During his tenure (2001-2010) he taught courses in terrorism, counterterrorism, information warfare, international relations and sub-Saharan Africa. He also directed a series of research initiatives and education programs for the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, covering topics such as terrorist recruitment, training, and organizational knowledge transfer. Dr. Forest was selected by the Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy Magazine as one of "America's most esteemed terrorism and national security experts" and participated in their annual Terrorism Index studies 2006 thru 2009. He has been interviewed by many newspaper, radio and television journalists, and is regularly invited to give speeches and lectures in the U.S. and other countries. He has published 11 books and dozens of journal articles, and has testified before committees of the U.S. Senate.
