Cecilia Polizzi

Cecilia Polizzi is a senior professional in international security policy with 15 years of experience intersecting CT/PCVE, ROL, and MIL/Defense. Polizzi is a top industry leader in the modus operandi of terrorist and violent extremist organizations, and the recruitment and radicalization of minors. For over a decade, she has been at the forefront of international efforts to reshape paradigms and understanding regarding the involvement of children in terrorism. Polizzi's subject matter expertise serves as a guiding force in policy discussions and the development of strategies aimed at addressing the involvement of minors in terrorism across the public and private sectors.

Throughout her career, Polizzi has collaborated extensively with national governments and multilateral organizations, including NATO, the Council of Europe, the European Commission and various United Nations departments and agencies. She has addressed the United States Institute of Peace, the Italian Ministry of Defense, and other high-level institutions as an expert. Her work has revealed the importance of protecting minors as a means to disrupt terrorist capabilities and prevent and mitigate threats both in the short and long term. She was the first to expose the exploitation of children in terrorism as a major pillar of terrorist groups' strategy of self-perpetuation and war tactics, establishing that indoctrination serves to ensure the propagation and long-term survival of extremist ideology.

An internationally recognized authority in her field, her research has been published in several academic journals and outlets. It was featured in one of the foremost Italian political newsweeklies, 'L'Espresso,' GEDI Gruppo Editoriale, and supported the drafting of the 2020 Annual Report on Terrorism and Human Rights of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (A/HRC/45/27). As a fellowship recipient at the Middle East Research Institute (MERI), a distinguished Iraqi think tank renowned for its top policy research, she channels her expertise towards the analysis, identification of policy and legislative gaps, and provision of recommendations to tackle major PCVE challenges throughout Iraq and the broader MENA region.

Polizzi is the owner of a private corporation delivering assistance to security sector actors engaged in Anti/Counterterrorism efforts. Polizzi also holds a C-suite position for the Next Wave, a leading organization in the area of child involvement with terrorist and violent extremist actors, which she founded in 2018.

Sub-specialties:

Violent Extremism
Lone Actors
Management of Foreign Terrorist Fighters, Volunteers, and Their Families
Child/Youth Radicalization
New Technologies and the Online Dimension of Extremism
Rehabilitation and Reintegration