William McCants, Ph.D.

William McCants, Ph.D. is an analyst at CNA's Center for Naval Analyses where he focuses on al-Qaeda, terrorism, and Middle Eastern politics. He is also adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins’ Krieger School. From 2009-2011, McCants served as Senior Adviser for Countering Violent Extremism in the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the U.S. State Department. Prior to that he was the program manager of the Minerva Initiative in OSD-Policy; an analyst at the Institute for Defense Analyses and SAIC; and a fellow at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center. McCants is the founder of Jihadica.com, a group blog that explains the global jihadi movement. The blog has been featured on the cover of the New York Times and rated by Technorati as one of the top one hundred blogs on global politics. Wired magazine recently described it as “the gold standard in militant studies.” McCants is the editor of the Militant Ideology Atlas and the author of a forthcoming Foreign Affairs article on al-Qaeda. In 2005, he translated an Arabic book written by an al-Qaeda strategist. This fall, Princeton University Press is publishing McCants’ book Founding Gods, Inventing Nations: Conquest and Culture Myths from Antiquity to Islam.

Recent Work: Citation analysis of jihadist ideologues; Muslim Brotherhood politics in the Middle East; jihadist recantations of violence; counter-recruitment programming; countering AQ propaganda online

Education: Ph.D. and M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University, M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from University of Arizona, B.S. in History from Lander University

Languages: Arabic and Persian

Publications of Interest:

• Founding Gods, Inventing Nations: Conquest and Culture Myths from Antiquity to Islam (Princeton University Press, 2012).
• “Al-Qaeda’s Challenge” Foreign Affairs (Sept/Oct 2011).
• “Don’t Be Evil: What Google Doesn’t Get About Violent Extremism—And How It Can Do Better.” Foreign Policy (June 30, 2011).
• “Zawahiri Speaks.” Foreign Policy (June 9, 2011).
• “The al-Qaeda Zawahiri Inherits.” Foreign Policy (June 16, 2011).
• “A Gaping Hole.” Foreign Policy (May 2, 2011).
• “Review of Gilles Kepel and Jean-Pierre Milelli, Al Qaeda in its Own Words, and Bernard Rougier, Everyday Jihad,” International Journal of Middle East Studies (forthcoming).
• “Review of John Kelsey’s Arguing the Just War in Islam,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 2008 76(4): 1028-1031.
• Translator, Abu Bakr Naji, The Management of Savagery, 256 pages (sponsored by Olin Institute at Harvard).
• “The Origins of Islam and Islamism.” In Terrorism and Political Islam (West Point, 2007).
• Militant Ideology Atlas (West Point, N.Y.: Combating Terrorism Center, 2007). 383-page study of militant Islamist intellectual networks.
• “Stealing Al-Qa'ida's Playbook.” With Jarret Brachman. In Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 29, no. 4 (2006): 309-321.

Recent Talks and Presentations:

• “Building Communities on a Foundation of Mistrust: Jihadi Discussion Forums.” History Department, Florida State University, April 2009.
• “Community Life on Jihadi Forums.” Near Eastern Studies Dept., Princeton University, September 2008.
• “From Forum Fighters to Foreign Fighters: The Minimal Role of Jihadi Forums in Radicalization.” Danish Institute for International Studies, September 2008.
• “Al-Qaeda Today.” Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, August 2008.