As deputy coordinator for countering violent extremism and terrorist detentions at the State Department, Ian Moss is working to repatriate foreign terrorist fighters and their family members, which includes providing them with social and mental health resources. The work he does is complex and involves not only finding homes and jobs for people previously involved in terrorist organizations, but also providing the communities they’re reintegrating into with the right tools to support them. Moss says the lessons learned in dealing with the mental health problems of foreign fighters could inform efforts to combat violent extremism and mass violence in this country. In a similar way to what the State Department has done aboard, the Department of Homeland Security is starting to invest in domestic mental health programs. Moss talked to Ruth about his work. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Can you talk a bit about what you do? One of the issues that I focus a significant amount of my time on is related to repatriation of foreign terrorist fighters and associated family members out of northeast Syria — so making sure that individuals have appropriate educational opportunities, psychosocial support. What is psychosocial support? It’s access to mental health care. It’s access to and support in identifying appropriate job skills training, in general, support that one would need navigating a return to society. Access to medical care or social workers or folks who can help address trauma in, say, children — an acute issue for kids coming out of northeast Syria who may have seen family members die or who may have been a part of violence. We’re talking about repatriation and rehabilitation, but has your work given you any insight into how we can prevent violent extremism in the first place? Absolutely. Someone has to be vulnerable and susceptible to radicalization, and a lot of the time that is a result of marginalization or other kind of disconnection between groups in a particular place. That just feeds a cycle of extremism and division within a community. One of our efforts is to work through international entities like the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund. It’s an international, nongovernmental body that is comprised of advisers from various governments and civil society that engages at a hyperlocal level to try to create greater resilience and understanding in and among communities that may be susceptible to or already experiencing strife and division that can lead to radicalization and recruitment. It is at the local level that the indicators are going to first be seen. And so it’s at the local level that you have the first opportunity to intervene. What role does the internet play in radicalization? Racially or ethnically motivated, violent extremism is something that is transnational and affects us all. It demands that the steps that we take to address the issue domestically need to be in concert with the steps that we take to address the issue internationally. There are no shortages of links. They learn from one another, they consult one another, they inspire one another, they vie to recruit from the same pools. They learn from one another; they are inspired by the manifestos that proliferate across the internet.
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