Build, Develop, Support: Phase 0 as the Decisive Counterterrorism Operation - A Case Study of North West Africa Leveraging the Cloud

摘要

Since the extremist Islamist terrorist group al Qaida began targeting U.S. interests in the 1990s, counterterrorism operations against the group predominately consisted of kinetic operations to capture or kill senior leaders of the group. While operations like the 1 May 2011 raid that resulted in the death of Usama bin Laden, the al Qaida leader, have a role in U.S. counterterrorism operations, kinetic operations against terrorist group members only address the symptom of the problem vice the root cause. During the 2000s, al Qaida expanded to incorporate regional violent extremist Islamist groups outside the heart of the Middle East. Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), remains a regional threat in North West Africa as it maintains its regional goals. The regional targets and motivations provide U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) a unique opportunity to eliminate the elements that provide AQIM a veneer of legitimacy. This paper will discuss AFRICOM's mission to collaborate and cooperate with the interagency to shape the Phase 0 environment to prevent the rise and growth of violent extremist Islamist groups. Challenges faced by AFRICOM and the interagency will be examined with recommendations how to overcome them via the '3D' concept.of development, defense, and diplomacy.