A New Understanding of Terrorism (PDF)

Agostino von Hassell spent his formative years in the United States, studying European History at Columbia University graduating with a B.A. in 1974. He then attended Columbia Journalism School, graduating with a M.S. and with honors in 1975. He wrote numerous political and historical articles for publications as diverse as The Marine Corps Gazette, Die Zeit (Germany), Naval Proceedings, Defense News, The Navy Times and others. He is the author of two major military histories, Warriors: The United States Marine Corps (published first in 1988); Strike Force: Marine Corps Special Operations. Strike Force provided a concept for a major Dale Brown novel. Warriors was also translated into Italian. He is the author - along with former Marine Herman J. Dillon - of West Point: the Bicentennial Book published in March 2002. In 2003 he published a pictorial portrait of the United States: In Honor of America. In 2006 he published Military Highlife. This is the first major book published on elegant military food in decades. Published in the fall of 2006 is An Alliance of Enemies, a book on the untold story on the secret contacts between Germany's resistance the Abwehr and the OSS in World War II. Hassell has contributed sections to the Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement (2005). He co-authored (with W. McDonald and M.R. Haberfeld) a chapter in Comparative Policing The Struggle for Democratization (2008), titled "International Cooperation in Policing: A Partial Answer to the Query?" In 2007, he coauthored and presented (with M.R. Haberfeld) an article titled "Proper Proactive Training to Terrorist Presence and Operations in Friendly Urban Environments," at the NATO Counter-Terrorism Conference in Washington, D.C. subsequently published by the NATO Science for Peace and Security Program. He has taught as adjunct professor in the graduate program of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, teaching members of the New York City Police Department in subjects such as counter-terrorism and leadership. He is a life member of the United States Marine Corps Combat Correspondents, the National Defense Industry Association, the OSS Society, the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, the American Society of Media Photographers, and the Authors' Guild. He is now the president of The Repton Group LLC, a New York City consulting group that deals mostly with national security issues.