On 25 September 2024, the United States Department of State and the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law (IIJ) held an event on Emerging Technologies and Counterterrorism: Criminal Justice Policy Implications in the margins of the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High-Level Week. The event brought together government policymakers, practitioners, tech sector leaders, and academic experts to focus on how terrorist actors are exploiting artificial intelligence (AI), online gaming platforms, and 3D-printed weapons for their criminal ends — and how governments can address this urgent threat.
IIJ Executive Secretary Steven Hill opened the event with a brief overview of the IIJ’s work to improve criminal justice practitioners’ ability to address terrorist exploitation of new and emerging technologies. Jessica Long, Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the United States Department of State, and Christopher Cutajar, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade of Malta, also delivered opening remarks that praised the IIJ’s work and underscored their governments’ commitment to countering terrorism’s evolving threat through criminal justice systems.
Speakers included European Union Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Bartjan Wegter; Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism Executive Director Naureen Chowdhury Fink; Microsoft Vice President and Chief Digital Safety Officer Courtney Gregoire; Meta Global Head of Counterterrorism and Dangerous Organisations Policy Dina Hussein; United States Department of Justice National Security Division Counsel for Domestic Terrorism Thomas Brzozowski; United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Multilateral Counter Terrorism Desk Officer Thomas Baldock; Royal United Services Institute Acting Director of Terrorism and Conflict Studies Jessica White; and Royal Military College of Canada Assistant Professor Yannick Veilleux-Lepage, with Mr. Michael Cooper, Executive Director, American Society of International Law Executive Director Michael Cooper, and IIJ Senior Manager for Programs and Policy Planning Winthrop Wells moderating. These panellists’ excellent presentations detailed how Iranian-backed terrorist groups, the Islamic State’s Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), and racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist (REMVE) actors, among others, are taking advantage of emerging technologies, how policymakers and practitioners are responding to the challenges this poses, and what further action is required.
The valuable insights offered by the speakers, and by participants in the ensuing discussion, will inform the IIJ’s ongoing work with criminal justice practitioners on emerging technologies and counterterrorism.