Brigadier General Russell D. Howard, USA (ret.) “was the Head of the Department of Social Sciences and the Founding Director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. His previous positions include Deputy Department Head of the Department of Social Sciences, Army Chief of Staff Fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, and Commander of the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Lewis, Washington. Other recent assignments include Assistant to the Special Representative to the Secretary General during UNOSOM II in Somalia, Deputy Chief of Staff for I Corps, and Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander for the Combined Joint Task Force, Haiti/Haitian Advisory Group. Previously, General Howard was Commander of 3d Battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He also served as the Administrative Assistant to Admiral Stansfield Turner and as a Special Assistant to the Commander of SOUTHCOM.” (Tufts University)

Brigadier General Russell Howard is a co-author of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism; Homeland Security and Terrorism: Readings and Interpretations; Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Understanding the New Security Environment, Readings and Interpretations, Revised & Updated 2004; and, Defeating Terrorism: Shaping the New Security Environment.

According to the book description of Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Understanding the New Security Environment, Readings and Interpretations (2004), the authors “have collected and organized new and reprinted articles and essays by political scientists, government officials, and members of the nation's armed forces. The editors and several of the authors write from practical field experience in the nation's war on terrorism. Others have had significant responsibility for planning government policy and responses. The contributors include a majority of the significant names in the field including General Barry McCaffrey, Martha Crenshaw, Bruce Hoffman, Barry Posen, Jessica Stern, Ashton Carter.

Part One of the book analyzes the philosophical, political, and religious roots of terrorist activities around the world and discusses the national, regional, and global effects of historical and recent acts of terrorism. In addition to material on the threats from suicide bombers, as well as chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons, there are also important contributions analyzing new and growing threats: narco-terrorism, cyber-terrorism, genomic terrorism, and agro-terrorism. Part Two deals with past, present, and future national and international responses to--and defenses against--terrorism. Essays and articles in this section analyze and debate the practical, political, ethical, and moral questions raised by military and non-military responses (and pre-emptive actions) outside of the context of declared war.

Five detailed Appendices: Chronology of Terrorism Incidents, Groups Designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, Terrorist Group Profiles, and Weapons of Mass Destruction Definitions.”

According to the book description of Homeland Security and Terrorism: Readings and Interpretations, the “Homeland Security Series draws on frontline government, military, and business experts to detail what individuals and businesses can and must do to understand and move forward in this challenging new environment. . Books in this timely and noteworthy series will cover everything from the balance between freedom and safety to strategies for protection of intellectual, business, and personal property to structures and goals of terrorist groups including Al-Qaeda.  Homeland Security and Terrorism is a comprehensive collection of essays and articles addressing the problems and solutions of maintaining openness and freedom in American society, while providing protection against future terrorist incidents. Noted contributors including former Oklahoma governor Frank Keating discuss relevant matters from the changing relationships and responsibilities among government, industry, and private citizens to strategies for minimizing tensions between establishing defensive measures and the financial and societal costs of those matters.”

According to the book description of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism, “Brigadier General (Retired) Russell Howard and Dr. James Forest have collected original and previously published seminal articles and essays by scientists, academics, government officials, and members of the nation’s security and intelligence communities. The editors and several of the authors write from practical field experience in nonproliferation and counterterrorism efforts. Others have had significant responsibility for developing government policies to address the threat of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. The contributors include a majority of the significant names in the field including Bruce Hoffman, Brian Jenkins, Jonathan Tucker, Rohan Gunaratna, David Franz, Richard Betts, William Rosenau, and David Albright.

Unit One of the book introduces key terms and addresses important strategic and policy debates. Authors explain how the new forms of terrorism affect the post-9/11 security environment and introduce the notion that weapons of mass destruction could give terrorists short-term, asymmetric attack advantages over conventional military forces. Unit Two offers detailed accounts of the characteristics, availability, and dangers of specific types of WMD, along with four case studies that associate theory with practice’s an important feature of this volume. Unit Three deals with past, present, and future national and international responses to - and defenses against - the threat of WMD terrorism. And in the final section of the volume, authors predict future WMD threats and seek to draw on past events and mistakes in order to identify lessons and strategies for the future.”