Mr David Otto, a counter-terrorism practitioner, would deliver a guest lecture on ‘leadership decapitation as a counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy’ as part of the Conversations on African Security Seminar Series at the University of Aberdeen. The lecture uses the recent decapitation of the leadership of Boko Haram-ISWAP in the Lake Chad Basin region of Africa as a case study.

Speaker's Bio

Mr David Otto is an active Consultant, Trainer and Capacity Building Specialist for NATO, UN, USAAFRICOM & DoD and other international and corporate bodies on Counter Violent Extremism and defence against terrorist global Networks. He is a pioneering expert for the Interpol Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy designed by five Globally accredited Subject Matter Experts.

He recently led a NATO southern hub and the UK Home Office field research on drivers and enablers of Serious Organised Crime (SOC) and violent extremism activities in the Lake Chad and Sahel regional states. He has been researching Terror Networks for the past fifteen years. He is one of the few counter-terrorism researchers and trainers for the US-based Anti-Terrorism Accreditation Board (ATAB).

Mr David Otto is a Certified Master Anti-Terrorism Specialist (CMAS) and a Certified Anti- Terrorism Specialist (CAS). He is a Certified Financial Crime Examiner (CFCE) with ATAB. Mr Otto holds a Master of Science (MSc) in Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime (UK) and a Certified Field Criminalistics (Mexico). He has a BA-Hons Law and Criminology (UK). He is currently the Director of Stepped in Step Out UK Ltd and the Director for Switzerland based Geneva Centre for Africa Security and Strategic Studies (GCASSS).

Mr David Otto is a mentor and actively contributes to shaping global Counter-Terrorism and Preventing Violent Extremism Strategies in the UK, EU, Lake Chad, Great Lakes, Sahel and Horn of Africa.