Phil Gurski
- Research field radicalisation, extremism, terrorism
- Institution Gloucester, Canada
- Position Head of Borealis Threat & Risk Consulting
- Theme De-radicalization
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De-radicalization
Biography
Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting (www.borealisthreatandrisk.com). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2013, specializing in Al Qaeda/Islamic State-inspired violent extremism and radicalization.
From 1983 to 2001 he was employed as a senior multilingual analyst at Communications Security Establishment, specialising in the Middle East. He also served as senior special advisor in the National Security Directorate at Public Safety Canada from 2013 until his retirement from the civil service in May 2015, and as consultant for the Ontario Provincial Police’s Anti-Terrorism Section (PATS) in 2015. Mr. Gurski has presented on Al Qaeda/Islamic State-inspired violent extremism and radicalization across Canada and around the world.
He is the author of “The Threat from Within: Recognizing Al Qaeda-inspired Radicalization and Terrorism in the West” (Rowman and Littlefield) and the forthcoming “Western Foreign Fighters: the threat to homeland and international security” (Rowman and Littlefield). He regularly blogs (Terrorism in Canada and the West – available on his Website) and tweets (@borealissaves) on terrorism.
He is a visiting fellow at the International Centre for Counter Terrorism (ICCT) in the Netherlands and a fellow at Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School for International Affairs (NPSIA).
Publications
- Gurski, Phil. “Stop the Politicization of Terrorism.” The Hill Times, March 12, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “Canada’s Self-Styled ‘Freemen’ Should Not Get off Scot Free.” The Hill Times, March 19, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “Why Can’t Canada Get Rid of People We Don’t Want Here?” The Hill Times, April 2, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “Security Certificate Cases and Canada’s Failure to Use the Intelligence It Collects.” The Hill Times, February 25, 2019, sec. Opinion.
- Gurski, Phil. “Will Increasing Political Polarization in Canada Lead to an Assassination? Not so Fast.” The Hill Times, March 4, 2019, sec. Opinion.
- Gurski, Phil. “Do Terrorism Sentences in Canada Serve as a Deterrent?” The Hill Times, March 11, 2019, sec. Opinion.
- Gurski, Phil. “Reading, Writing, and Radicalism: Schools and the Links to Terrorism.” The Hill Times, March 18, 2019, sec. Opinion.
- Gurski, Phil. An End to the War on Terrorism. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield International, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “On the Link between Immigration and Terrorism.” The Hill Times (blog), January 29, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “Lessons in Resilience from New York, Gander.” The Sudbury Star (ON), January 5, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “A Rare Look at the Terrorist Threat to Canada Thanks to CSIS.” The Hill Times (blog), February 12, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “What Have We Learned from the Aaron Driver Case One Year Later?” The Hill Times, August 14, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Another Troubling Court Decision on Terrorism in Canada.” The Hill Times, October 2, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “The Real Impact of Terrorism: Shattered Lives.” The Hill Times, November 13, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Barcelona-Style Vehicle Attacks Almost Impossible to Defend Against.” The Hill Times, August 21, 2017, sec. Opinion.
- Gurski, Phil. “Takeaways so Far from the Terrorist Attack in Edmonton.” The Hill Times, October 12, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Here We Go Again: Mental Health and Terrorism.” The Hill Times, November 16, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Gurski: Would You Rather We NOT Have Security on Canada Day?” Ottawa Citizen, July 3, 2017, sec. Opinion.
- Gurski, Phil. “Now Not Time to Divert Resources to Guard against Alt-Right Terrorism.” The Hill Times, August 28, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Can Canadians Trust CSIS to Help Keep Us Safe?” The Hill Times, November 20, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Why Police Should Be in Canadian High Schools.” The Hill Times, November 23, 2017, sec. Opinion.
- Gurski, Phil. “Why the Phrase ‘War on Terrorism’ Is Ill Thought.” The Hill Times, October 23, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “In a World Beset by Too Much Terrorism, Perspective Is More Important than Ever.” The Hill Times, November 27, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Why Do We Have Anti-Terrorism Laws If We Are Not Going to Use Them?” The Hill Times, September 18, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “We Live in a World Where We Jump to Terrorism Conclusions Too Fast.” The Hill Times, October 30, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Is Saudi Arabia Serious about Combating Terrorism?” The Hill Times, November 30, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Why Can’t We Identify Terrorists before It Is Too Late?” Hill Times, 2016.
- Gurski, Phil. “What Lord Voldemort and Terrorism Have in Common.” Hill Times, October 3, 2016.
- Gurski, Phil. “Can Terrorism Be Forgiven?” Hill Times, October 10, 2016.
- Gurski, Phil. “How Much Data Retention Is Reasonable in Counter Terrorism?” Hill Times, November 14, 2016.
- Gurski, Phil. “Why Don’t Most People Become Terrorists?” Hill Times, December 12, 2016.
- Gurski, Phil. “Where Are All the Right-Wing Terrorism Mass Casualty Attacks?” Hill Times, December 19, 2016.
- Gurski, Phil. “Terrorism Is a Public Safety Issue, Not National Security Threat : Let’s Not Let Extremists Goad Us into Overreaction.” The Hill Times, September 4, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Why We Will Never ‘Eradicate’ Terrorism.” The Hill Times, September 11, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Why Do We Have Anti-Terrorism Laws If We Are Not Going to Use Them?” The Hill Times, September 18, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “The Link (or Lack Thereof) between Refugees and Terrorism.” The Hill Times, September 25, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “The Role of Torture in Counter Terrorism.” The Hill Times, September 28, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Another Troubling Court Decision on Terrorism in Canada.” The Hill Times, October 2, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Why Canada’s Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence Is in the Wrong Department.” The Hill Times, October 16, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “As with Mass Murderers so with Terrorists.” The Hill Times, October 23, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “What We Know about the Attack in Manhattan so Far.” The Hill Times, November 1, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Overseas Military Deployment and Terrorism: A Mixed Bag.” The Hill Times, November 7, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Preventing Terrorism Rarely Tied to Immigration.” The Hill Times, December 4, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Death to Terrorists If Necessary but Not Necessarily Death.” The Hill Times, December 11, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “War with an ‘Ism’ Is a Bad Idea.” The Hill Times, December 18, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Australia, Belgium Lead by Example on Returning Foreign Fighters—What about Canada?” The Hill Times, December 20, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “We Need to Ignore Most Jihadi Propaganda.” The Hill Times, January 3, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “When City Hall Becomes a Terrorist Target.” The Hill Times, January 15, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “The Joshua Boyle Saga: An Alternative View.” The Hill Times, January 22, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “On the Link between Immigration and Terrorism.” The Hill Times, January 29, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “Fine Line between Hate and Terrorism: Murder Is Murder.” The Hill Times, February 5, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “A Rare Look at the Terrorist Threat to Canada Thanks to CSIS.” The Hill Times, February 12, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “The Canada-Trinidad Terrorism Link.” The Hill Times, February 19, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “CSE Should Be Allowed to Go on the Offensive.” The Hill Times, February 26, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “How Hard Can It Be to Make a Workable No-Fly List?” The Hill Times, March 5, 2018.
- Gurski, Phil. “Seeing the Signs of Domestic Radicalization: Phil Gurski for Inside Policy.” Macdonald-Laurier Institute (blog), February 19, 2016.
- Gurski, Phil. Radicalization as a Social Phenomenon. Video. The SecDev Foundation’s Prevent Violent Extremism: A Social Media Research Portal, 2016.
- Gurski, Phil. “An Era of Near Unstoppable Terrorism?” International center for counter-terrorism - The Hague, August 29, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Saudi Arabia, Modernity and Counter Terrorism.” New Canadian Media, September 27, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. The Lesser Jihads: Bringing the Islamist Extremist Fight to the World. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. Western Foreign Fighters: The Threat to Homeland and International Security. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017.
- Gurski, Phil. “Honest Talk about Terrorism; We Can’t Hamstring Our Protectors, Says Phil Gurski.” Edmonton Journal, August 13, 2016.
- Gurski, Phil. The Threat from within: Recognizing Al Qaeda-Inspired Radicalization and Terrorism in the West. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.