Countering ISIL Messaging and Recruitment

How can we break ISIL’s brand? The Islamic State’s propaganda machine exploits social media to propel a violent narrative that is abhorrent to most of the world—but has strong appeal to a small number of young men and women who are vulnerable to their messaging. The United States is working with allies in the Middle East to discredit ISIL in the information space. Part of the strategy includes the State Department’s new Global Engagement Center, designed to empower credible voices across the globe and foster a stronger working relationship with leading social media companies, Madison Avenue and Hollywood.

On May 4, join the World Affairs Council and Richard Stengel, the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and former managing editor of Time magazine, for a conversation on combatting ISIL's message online and the way to build a positive counter-narrative. The conversation will be moderated by Ambassador (ret.) Asif Chaudhry, Vice President for International Programs at Washington State University.

This event is part of the 2015-2016 Community Programs Policy & Thought Leaders Series.

About our speaker:

Richard Stengel was sworn in as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs on February 14, 2014. As Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, he provides global strategic leadership of all Department of State public diplomacy and public affairs engagement and oversees the bureaus of Educational and Cultural Affairs, International Information Programs, and Public Affairs, and the Global Engagement Center.

Prior to assuming this position, Richard Stengel was the Managing Editor of TIME from 2006 to 2013, which includes print and digital, domestic and international. From 2004 to 2006, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Mr. Stengel was the Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University in 1999.

From 1992 to 1994, Mr. Stengel worked with Nelson Mandela on his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, and later served as an associate producer of the 1996 Oscar-nominated documentary, Mandela. Mr. Stengel received an Emmy award in 2012 for his work as executive producer on TIME’s documentary, “Beyond 9/11: Portraits of Resilience.”

Richard Stengel has written for many publications and is the author of several books, including Mandela’s Way and January Sun: One Day, Three Lives, A South African Town. During his career at TIME he also served as the magazine’s national and culture editor as well as editor of TIME.com.

Mr. Stengel received a B.A. from Princeton University and studied English and History as a Rhodes Scholar at Christ Church, Oxford.

About our moderator:

Ambassador Asif Chaudhry became the Vice President for International Programs at Washington State University in June 2015. He is the chief international relations officer at the University and is responsible for IP’s role in carrying out WSU’s mission of global engagement.

Ambassador Chaudhry was born in Pakistan and has an extensive background and understanding of the Middle East. Besides studying at the American University of Beirut as a graduate student, he served as Minister Counselor accredited to the U.S. Embassies in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel.

He recently retired from the United States Government as a Senior Foreign Service Officer where he held numerous leadership positions in the Departments of State, Defense, and Agriculture. As the Foreign Policy Advisor to the Chief of United States Navy (CNO) at the Pentagon, he was the principal architect of U.S. Navy’s global engagement plan to implement the rebalance to the Asia Pacific region.

He was the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova from 2008-11; served at U.S. Embassy Cairo as, where he negotiated trade agreements between the United States and Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria; and at the U.S. Embassy Moscow he led the implementation of a billion-dollar food aid program for the Russian Federation in response to the collapse of the financial sector of that country in the late 1990s.

He speaks Russian, Arabic, Polish, Urdu and Punjabi, and received a Presidential Meritorious Service Award for his contributions in the conduct of U.S. Foreign Policy.