News Article: October 02, 2001 - Scarborough briefs Tennessee National Guard on Afghanistan 

Jackson, Tenn. - In a two-hour session at Houston Barracks in Nashville today, Jackson attorney and terrorism expert Ivy Scarborough gave an important briefing on Afghanistan and terrorism to the Tennessee National Guard.

Scarborough, who was invited by the Guard to address its units statewide through special closed-circuit television, gave insight to several topics regarding Afghanistan and its people, including the country’s topical features in addition to terrain and climate, and the ethnic groups that make up the Islamic country. He also gave an in depth description of the mujahadeen and the weapons used as well as the tactics and mindset of these militant groups. Scarborough shared his personal experience of being with the mujahadeen during the Afghanistan war with the Soviet Union.

“We wanted to give our senior staff a greater insight into Afghanistan, its people and the political climate,” said Major General Jackie D. Wood, Adjutant General to the Tennessee National Guard. “Because of his unique qualifications, Ivy was the ideal choice to provide that insight.”

Due to security concerns, publicity for the briefing was not allowed until following the briefing.

Scarborough holds significant expertise on a variety of current issues, including international terrorism, foreign affairs, national defense policy and American government. He has done extensive freelance reporting and observation in various countries including the states of the former Soviet Union: Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia.

He has entered eight war zones including El Salvador in 1988 when he participated in patrols with the Salvadoran Commandos in Communist guerilla areas along the Torolo River, Israel and the Lebanese border area during the Gulf War in 1991, and assisted in getting a neurosurgeon and team into areas of fighting for the Samaritan’s Purse in Bosnia in 1993. In 1998, Scarborough assisted the Samaritan’s Purse in Sudan, traveling to the front to observe and write about the civil war, and in 1999, entered Kosovo with the 82nd Airborne and participated in foot, vehicular and night helicopter patrols and in the investigation and arrest of a reputed war criminal by Special Forces.

Mr. Scarborough, an attorney from Jackson, Tennessee, holds significant expertise on a variety of current issues, including international terrorism, foreign affairs, national defense policy and American government. He has done extensive freelance reporting and observation in various countries including Afghanistan, Bosnia, Somalia and Kosovo and is widely used by the military as a lecturer on topics including the Afghan war, international crises, and terrorism. Most recently, he was asked by the Tennessee National Guard to brief guard units statewide on the situation in Afghanistan.