The social critic and author Christopher Hitchens wrote: “What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.”

Research, applied learning, and fierce debates about measuring success and failure, about embracing new ideas and technologies, and about adapting concepts and practices from both the development and national defense disciplines are the foundation on which we have built DAI’s Center for Secure and Stable States. Our goal is to “move the needle” on the complex problem sets of violent extremism and insurgency, political and security transitions, and community stabilization and cohesion. The purpose of this blog is to create a community of practitioners with whom we can have these animated—and at times difficult—conversations about how to broaden the evidence base to both achieve development impact and support U.S. national security interests around these problem sets.

Our blog is edited by Kevin Casey, CS3 Director of Research, and managed by Janene Sawers, CS3 Program Manager for countering violent extremism programming.

We look forward to your participation in our Checkpoint community!