Author Archive

Christopher P. Costa

Christopher P. Costa is executive director of the International Spy Museum and a retired U.S. Army colonel. He served in the first year of the Trump administration as the special assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council.
Ideas

Look at Great Power Competition Through a Special Operations Lens

Most of this competition is far short of combat, which makes the principles and expertise of SOF keenly relevant.

  • Kevin Bilms and Christopher P. Costa
Ideas

We Must Continue Fighting Terrorism as Relentlessly as the Coronavirus

There’s no miracle drug for stopping terrorism. It is controllable, but never curable.

  • Christopher P. Costa
Ideas

To Fight Disinformation, Rethink Counterintelligence

For too long, the focus of U.S. counterintelligence has been safeguarding government secrets and corporate intellectual property.

  • Christopher P. Costa and Joshua A. Geltzer
Ideas

DHS’s New Counterterrorism Strategy Reflects Professionalism, Not Politics

The counterterrorism experts who oversaw the Obama-Trump policy transition applaud the new strategy’s bold approach to domestic terrorism and guns.

  • Christopher P. Costa and Joshua A. Geltzer
Ideas

Counterterrorism in the Era of Great-Power Competition

A former Trump administration counterterrorism leader explains what’s changed since Obama, and what ought to come next.

  • Christopher P. Costa