Albert J. (Berto) Jongman (1955) majored in western sociology at the University of Groningen in 1981. During his studies he gained practical experience as a research assistant at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in Sweden. From 1982 to 1987 he worked as a researcher at the Polemological Institute of the University of Groningen where he dealt with several research topics including the quantitative study of war, political violence, armament and disarmament issues and human rights.  In 1987 he moved to the University of Leiden where he acted as datamanager of the Project on Interdisciplinary Research on the Root Causes of Gross Human Rights Violations (PIOOM). He also worked on several research projects,  including the World Conflict and Human Rights Map, 20th Century Genocides and Monitoring Human Rights Violations. In 2002 he moved from  academia to government. Since early 2002 he works as a senior terrorism analyst for the Dutch Ministry of Defense. His ‘World Directory of Terrorist and other Organizations associated with Guerrilla Warfare, Political Violence and Protest,' was included in the award-winning ‘Political Terrorism. A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, and Literature' (2nd edition, 1988) edited by Alex P. Schmid. During the 1990s he regularly contributed to the Dutch Yearbook on Peace and Security.  Currently an update of Political Terrorism is being prepared under the title Handbook of  Terrorism Research that will be published by Routledge in the Spring of 2010. In his current function he participates in a number of Advanced Research Working Groups of NATO and in activities of the Dutch National Coordinator for Counterterrorism.