Africa has become the principal global theatre for jihadist activity, with more than two-thirds of Islamic State’s (ISIS) worldwide operations now occurring on the continent, a United States congressional report has said.
The report, released by the US House Committee on Homeland Security on Thursday, said seven of the 10 countries recording the highest number of deaths linked to terrorism were also located in Africa.
It warned, however, that the scale of the threat was not matched by sufficient US and allied resources or consistent intelligence coverage across the continent.
The findings were contained in the committee’s “25th Anniversary Report: National Security Improvements and the Domestic Threat Landscape 25 Years After 9/11/01”, released ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The report examines how the US homeland security architecture has evolved since the attacks and identifies emerging threats to national security.
“The shift of jihadist activity toward Africa presents a strategic dilemma,” the committee said.
“With over two-thirds of ISIS’s global activity occurring on the continent and seven of the ten countries with the highest deaths linked to terrorism located there, Africa has become the world’s most active terrorism theatre. Yet U.S. and partner resources remain limited, and intelligence coverage is uneven.”
The committee said the geographical shift in jihadist activity had created a major strategic challenge for the United States and its partners, particularly as terrorist networks continued to evolve.
It said Washington had also been forced to broaden its approach to terrorism, noting that the Foreign Terrorist Organisation list now covers a wider range of threats, including cartels, criminal networks and extremist groups with different ideological backgrounds.
Lone attackers complicate counterterrorism
The report identified lone actors and individuals radicalised or inspired by extremist propaganda as an increasingly difficult threat to detect and prevent.
It said the development required security agencies to move beyond a traditional focus on established terrorist organisations.
“The rise of lone actors and inspired attackers requires a shift from organisation-centric counterterrorism to behaviour-centric prevention,” the committee said.
It further warned that blurred distinctions between domestic terrorism, hate crimes and foreign-inspired extremism could create difficulties for law enforcement agencies in both prevention and prosecution.
According to the lawmakers, the increasing overlap between terrorism and cyber capabilities also presents a growing challenge, making traditional counterterrorism approaches less effective.
Nation states drive cyber threats
The committee said the US cyber threat landscape had also changed significantly, with governments increasingly using cyber capabilities in sustained campaigns against American interests.
“In cyberspace, the United States is no longer confronting only individual hackers seeking money or notoriety,” the report said.
“It now faces sustained campaigns carried out by nation states with the resources, patience, and capabilities of intelligence services and military organisations.”
The committee said the rapid expansion of connected devices, software, applications and third-party systems had increased the number of potential entry points available to cyber attackers.
It said artificial intelligence was further transforming the sector, offering security professionals tools to analyse large datasets, detect unusual behaviour, identify vulnerabilities, develop defensive software and augment the cybersecurity workforce.
Border security remains a concern
The lawmakers also raised concerns about vulnerabilities in cargo screening, border security and immigration vetting.
While acknowledging improvements in non-intrusive inspection technology, including backscatter radiation scanners, the committee said the huge volume of goods entering the United States made it difficult to detect every potentially dangerous shipment.
It warned that terrorist organisations, transnational criminal organisations, human-smuggling networks and foreign non-state actors were increasingly exploiting commercially available encryption, telecommunications and financial technologies to hide their activities and coordinate operations.
The committee also said tougher security measures along the US-Mexico border had prompted some transnational criminal organisations to redirect their activities towards the US-Canada border.
“While the Southwest border has rightly attracted the most attention from policymakers and the public alike over the last several years, recent border security improvements have also prompted TCOs to shift their efforts to the Northern border,” it said.
23 recommendations unveiled
The committee made 23 recommendations to Congress and the executive branch, covering counterterrorism, intelligence sharing, aviation security, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, border protection, emergency preparedness and biodefence.
Among the proposals were stronger information-sharing mechanisms among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, updated definitions of security threats and increased monitoring of emerging terrorist tactics and organisations.
The committee also called for more resources for security along the northern border, full implementation of a biometric entry-exit system and expanded deployment of non-intrusive inspection technology.
It recommended risk-based cybersecurity standards for the use of artificial intelligence in critical infrastructure and urged the United States to strengthen international security partnerships.
The lawmakers called for the recommendations to be implemented promptly and on a bipartisan basis.
Committee Chairman Andrew R. Garbarino, a Republican representing New York, said the United States had strengthened its national security considerably since the 9/11 attacks but warned against complacency.
“Twenty-five years later, significant progress has been made towards strengthening our national security and ensuring we never again allow such an attack to be perpetrated against the United States,” Garbarino said.
“This no-fail mission requires persistent vigilance and adaptation to keep pace with the contemporary threat environment.”
The report comes ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.
The committee said its review was designed to assess the progress made in the quarter-century since the attacks while identifying gaps that could leave the country vulnerable to emerging threats.
Garbarino said the committee would continue working to protect Americans while ensuring that future generations of citizens and national security officials understood both the significance of 9/11 and the continuing demands of homeland security.
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