Securing the Future Initiative
In recognition of the 20th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001, The Soufan Center launched the Securing the Future Initiative (SFI) in partnership with the Fourth Freedom Forum to assess and recalibrate the expansive counterterrorism regime developed by the UN Security Council in the years since the attacks. In a crowded counterterrorism research space, the SFI’s groundbreaking work set itself apart by scrutinizing the oft-overlooked role of the Security Council in the global response to terrorism.
Aided by the insights garnered from 13 virtual and in-person events, workshops, and roundtables around the globe attended by 450 relevant stakeholders, the SFI released its final report – Counterterrorism and the United Nations Security Council Since 9/11: Moving Beyond the 2001 Paradigm – on the margins of the opening of the 77th UN General Assembly in September 2022. This report reflected on the past two decades of Security Council counterterrorism practices by drawing on a core team of experts with more than 50 years of combined experience working on UN and other multilateral counterterrorism and P/CVE issues. The SFI also published a series of external research briefs on sub-topics touched upon in the Council’s counterterrorism agenda. To conclude a busy year of international travel, research, and consultations, the SFI co-leads presented the report recommendations to current and incoming members of the UN Security Council in December.
EVENTS
SFI convened a number of workshops and roundtable discussions with stakeholders from the United Nations, UN Member States, national governments, and civil society, as well as independent experts to inform its research into UNSC counterterrorism activities over the past two decades.
PUBLICATIONS
In addition to its own independent review of UNSC counterterrorism activities, SFI commissioned a series of research briefs by experts in the UN, counterterrorism, peacekeeping, and other related fields.