In case you were not aware, via CNN: Sebastian Gorka’s PhD adviser: “I would not call him an expert in terrorism”
“I would not call him an expert on terrorism,” said Stephen Sloan, a retired professor of political science who spent much of his career at the University of Oklahoma. Though he said Gorka is “knowledgeable” about terrorism matters, “his level of expertise does not match the level where he stands in the White House.”Sloan said Gorka “does a very good job being the bulldog, if you will, for the administration … but as an adviser, I have some discomfort.”
Given that Sloan was one of Gorka’s advisers and has worked with Gorka, that is a pretty damning assessment.
From some experts who have no reason to damn with faint praise:
Mia Bloom, a professor of communications and Middle East studies at Georgia State University, said she met Gorka at a conference where they had been asked to talk about the characteristics of ISIS. She said he was so ill-prepared that she and other participants wondered if they were witnessing some kind of practical joke.
“He was making incredibly basic errors about the Arab revolt,” Bloom said. “We were all looking at each other like, what is he doing here?”
And:
Daniel Nexon, an associate professor at Georgetown University who has criticized Trump, recently reviewed Gorka’s 2007 PhD dissertation, which focused on post-Cold War terrorism, and described it as “inept.”“It’s not remotely something that I would consider scholarship. It does not deploy evidence that would satisfy the most basic methodological requirements for a PhD in the US,” said Nexon, who added the paper referenced out-of-date information and reached unsubstantiated conclusions, among other issues.
If you have managed to be blissfully ignorant of Gorka, I would recommend Nexon’s posts on his dissertation and Daniel Drezner’s numerous posts on the subject of Gorka’s expertise.
