So Are Other al-Qaeda Affiliates Looking to Hit Us at Home?
A subtle but strategically significant point raised by White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan at his press conference right now: The intelligence
Jul 31, 2020154.6K Shares6.1M Views
A subtle but strategically significant point raised by White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan at his press conference right now: The intelligence community didn’t fully understand that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was looking, for the first time, to strike the U.S. homeland; and that in turn didn’t set anyone’s hair on fire in the analytic community. If that’s true, it’s an important fact worth underscoring. And it raises the question: Are al-Qaeda’s otherregional affiliates now looking to hit the U.S. at home?
To explain, a bit of background: al-Qaeda has a variety of franchise organizations, with varying degrees of command and control back to al-Qaeda’s senior leadership in the tribal regions of Pakistan. Most important are al-Qaeda in Iraq, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (the Yemeni group) and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Those organizations, however, have tended to focus their operations on their specific regions. The task of hitting what Osama bin Laden has called the “far enemy” — us — has tended over the past decade to fall to al-Qaeda’s senior leadership. Or so the U.S. intelligence community has long believed. Training, recruiting, funding, planning — that’s all been work the franchises reserve for their specific areas of operation.
But al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s use of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab changes that picture. Brennan said that he believes AQAP has a pretty direct link back to al-Qaeda Senior Leadership. Does that mean it’s uniquelyfocused on establishing its global reach? Or does it herald that the otherfranchises are moving in that direction as well? In other words, if the analytic community is now pulsed to look at AQAP, as Brennan indicated (“no one entity, team or task force” was assigned to “prioritize AQAP,” he said in the press conference), does that risk missing the nextattempted coming from a differental-Qaeda franchise? After all, the National Counterterrorism Center, designed to bring together the analytic dots, has a questionable allotment of resources already.
It’s a shame no one in the briefing asked about that, but I know for a fact that Air America ace Ana Marie Cox wanted an answer to it. If only Robert Gibbs called on her!
Dexter Cooke
Reviewer
Dexter Cooke is an economist, marketing strategist, and orthopedic surgeon with over 20 years of experience crafting compelling narratives that resonate worldwide.
He holds a Journalism degree from Columbia University, an Economics background from Yale University, and a medical degree with a postdoctoral fellowship in orthopedic medicine from the Medical University of South Carolina.
Dexter’s insights into media, economics, and marketing shine through his prolific contributions to respected publications and advisory roles for influential organizations.
As an orthopedic surgeon specializing in minimally invasive knee replacement surgery and laparoscopic procedures, Dexter prioritizes patient care above all.
Outside his professional pursuits, Dexter enjoys collecting vintage watches, studying ancient civilizations, learning about astronomy, and participating in charity runs.
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