September 11, 2001 changed the way Americans view their security forever. Terrorism is no longer “someone else’s” problem. Now Americans are traumatically aware of how vulnerable they are to terrorism and terrorists. Given the events of the last decade and the ongoing campaign against global terrorism, it is imperative that citizens and their leaders understand and make sense of the threat, as well as conceptualize how terrorism might best be challenged and terrorists defeated. The “Counter-terrorism Seminar” is designed to address the challenges of terrorism in the current and future global security environment in a participatory format. Specifically, the seminar briefly reviews the threat terrorism poses to liberal democratic states, citizens and policymakers, then explores how liberal democracies can best predict, prevent, preempt and, if necessary, directly combat terrorism and terrorists. Five themes provide the course framework: Challenges to a Free Society, Strategies for Combating Terrorism, Eclectic (new) approaches to Countering Terrorism, Winning the (so called) War on Terrorism, and Counterterrorism in the post-bin Laden Security Environment. Also, controversial topics such as covert action, rendition, targeted killings, enhanced interrogation (torture), are discussed with particular emphasis on the legality of these and other counter-terror measures. The seminar culminates with a look into the future by discussing the challenges of the post-bin Laden terrorist threat and strategizing means to mitigate the threat.