US Counterterrorism Research Articles

The Role of International Law and Diplomacy in Inter-State Relations: Implications for Afghanistan and American War Relations

This study examines the role of international law and diplomacy in interstate relations, with implications for American-Afghanistan relations. Specifically, the study sets out to interrogate whether US war relations on terror in Afghanistan has reduced terrorism in the country; ascertain how US counter-terrorism strategic relations in Afghanistan undermined jus in bello principles of proportionality and discrimination; and determine how US strategy failure in its Afghanistan’s relations undermined its reconstruction and peace-building efforts. By adopting the Just War Theory (JWT), the paper analysed the dynamic nature of US-Afghanistan relations, following the 9/11 attacks, with findings revealing that the US had an incoherent strategy in its war relations in Afghanistan, which ultimately led to its failure to restore peace, promote democracy and human rights.

US Counter-Terrorism Sahel and Horn of Africa: Challenges and Opportunities

This paper will centre on the US counter-terrorism endeavours within the Sahel and Horn of Africa, counting the parts of military, political, and advancement efforts in combating psychological warfare.It'll dissect the challenges and openings of executing such a methodology, counting the complex political and security situations, the role of territorial accomplices, and the ought to address fundamental variables such as destitution, marginalization, and administration issues. It'll moreover survey the viability and maintainability of US counter-terrorism endeavours within the locale.

Digital Diplomacy: Assessing the Impact of US Counter-Terrorism Initiatives in Africa

Terrorism has rapidly become a new strategy of warfare and a critical security challenge, both in Africa and worldwide, in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Terrorism has continued to undermine people's fundamental human rights both directly and indirectly on the African continent, for example, contributing to large numbers of people being forcibly displaced from their homes or nations. Currently, there is a fast-expanding trend of terrorist operations throughout Africa, notably in the eastern, northern, and western areas. This article examines US counterterrorism initiatives in Africa via the prism of media tactics. This article delves into the complex network of digital communication strategies used by the US, illustrating how media is strategically used to support diplomatic efforts in Africa by influencing attitudes, shaping narratives, and shaping perceptions.

Beyond the neoconservative legacy in American counterterrorism policy: from George W. Bush to forever war

More than two decades after the 9/11 attacks, the militarised approach to counterterrorism initiated by the George W. Bush Administration remains firmly in place. Growing frustration with these actions has prompted debates on ‘forever war’. This article traces the origins of ‘forever war’ to the interplay of neoconservatism and conservative nationalism in the George W. Bush Administration, which aimed at preserving American primacy through the cultivation of overwhelming military power. The Administration’s support for the revolution in military affairs contributed to the development of a more remote counterterrorism approach, which helps explain the continuities in US counterterrorism policies across the latter Bush administration as well as the Obama and Trump presidencies. By helping embed a ‘common sense’ understanding that further 9/11-style attacks could only be prevented by enduring and aggressive military action against transnational terrorist organisations, neoconservatism shaped the evolution of American counterterrorism policy. The specific influence of neoconservatism must be qualified and contextualised, however, because the strategic commitment to primacy had wider support within the Bush Administration.

The securitisation of immigration through the Tactical Terrorism Response Team

ABSTRACT This article considers a significant stage in the convergence of US counterterrorism policy and immigration enforcement exemplified by the emergence of a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unit known as the Tactical Terrorism Response Team (TTRT). In my analysis I show: (i) that TTRT agents engage in a process I call social homicide which subjects travellers to a condition of bare life; (ii) that the increasing production of border violence highlights that the convergence of securitisation and immigration enforcement is a praxis of anti-Blackness and Islamophobia; (iii) that securitisation and exclusionary immigration policy have made use of invisibility to create and expand a permanent state of exception; and (iv) that border enforcement through securitisation is used as a mechanism for the surveillance and control of social movements inside the United States. Given the limited public information on TTRT’s operations, this study explores the matter through a case study of Abdikadir Mohamed’s 2017 encounter with the unit, his subsequent immigration proceedings, and the FOIA lawsuit filed against CBP for more information on the TTRT.

미국 대테러법제의 관점에서 바라본 테러방지법 개선방안

최근 우리 정부가 해외 파병 등 미국의 전략에 동참하고 있고, 우리나라에 미군 관련 시설이 전국에 산재해 있어 AQ 등 반미세력들로부터의 테러가능성을 배제할 수 없는 상황이다. 또한 미국 9･11 테러에서 경험하였듯이 오늘날 테러는 불특정 다수를 대상으로 대량의 살상방법을 사용하는 등 그 피해는 이루 헤아릴 수 없다고 할 것이다. 따라서 우리나라도 ‘대테러’에 대한 대책이 시급한 상황이며, 이에 대응하 기 위한 테러방지법의 개정, 개선방안이 필요하다 할 것이다. 그러나 테러방지법을 개정, 개선하고 시행함에 있어서 테러범 수사의 특성상 일반 형사법의 원칙이 완화 할 필요성이 있고, 그러한 과정에서 인권침해 및 테러 관계기관의 권한남용 가능성 도 상존한다고 할 것이다. 이러한 예는 인권과 적법절차를 강조하는 ‘미국’에서도 대 테러활동 과정에서 많은 인권침해 사례가 발생하였다는 점에서 시사하는 바가 크다 고 할 것이다. 이에 본고에서는 ‘미국’의 대테러법제 및 그 시행과정에서 나타난 문제 점 등을 논의 및 검토해보고, 이를 기반으로 하여 우리나라의 현행 테러방지법의 개정, 개선방안에 대하여 개괄하여 보았으며, 이러한 관점에서 테러방지법 개선방향 을 간략히 언급하면 다음과 같다. 첫째, 국제적, 조직적으로 이루어지는 테러범죄의 특성상 어느 한 기관의 정보력 및 수사력만으로 이에 효과적으로 대응하기 어려우므 로, 이를 효과적으로 대응하기 위해서는 정보기관 및 수사기관 상호간의 유기적 공 조체제 구축이 필요하다. 둘째, 테러의 방지는 효과적인 정보활동의 강화 없이 불가 능한 것이 사실이므로, 이러한 정보활동의 강화를 위하여 통신 및 인터넷에 대한 감청, 감시 등에 각종 조치, 절차 등을 마련하여 입법에 반영하여 할 것이다. 셋째, 테러범 수사의 효율성을 위하여 일반 형사법 요건을 ‘완화’하더라도 이에 따른 인권 침해의 가능성이 상존하므로, 요건과 절차 등을 가능한 명확하게 테러방지법(내지 시행령) 등에 규정하여 이에 대한 남용으로 인한 인권침해를 방지할 수 있도록 하여 야 할 것이다. 넷째, 정보기관과 수사기관과의 유기적 협조체제 구축을 전제로 두 권한을 분리하여 별도의 기관에 귀속시키고, 테러 관계기관들의 조직과 권한 등을 명확하게 규정하여 권한이 남용되지 않도록 적절한 통제를 하여야 할 것이다. 다섯 째, 테러를 예방하고 근절하기 위하여는 어느 한 국가의 노력만으로 가능한 것이 아니므로 국제 사회의 의지와 협력이 중요하며, 이에 우리나라도 이러한 정신에 입 각하여 범죄인인도, 관할권 등의 규정을 국제적인 기준에 부합하는 내용으로 개정, 개선하는 것이 필요하다. 여섯째, ‘미국’과 달리 우리나라의 현행 테러방지법(내지 테 러관련법) 하에서는 테러자금 추적과 이를 동결조치 할 수 있는 법적, 제도적 장치가 미흡하므로, 테러방지법(내지 시행령) 등을 개정, 개선할 경우에 그 테러자금에 대한 추적과 동결조치 등이 가능하도록 해야 할 것이다.

Efficacy of counter-terrorism cooperation

Nigeria has struggled to combat terrorism for over a decade despite its domestic strategies and multilateral cooperation with its contiguous neighbors and bilateral assistance from several superpowers, especially the United States. This has resulted in the death of many innocent people and the displacement of others. There is no doubt that alliance formation is considered a needed panacea for thwarting terrorism. Despite the cooperation between Nigeria and the United States, the growth of terrorism in Nigeria has not been reversed. However, the task of finding the answer to why Nigeria–US counter-terrorism cooperation has not achieved the desired objective in Nigeria remains an imperative for this article to grapple with. Thus, the study concludes that for Nigeria–US counter-terrorism cooperation to be efficacious, both countries need to deepen their bilateral engagements devoid of politicization of assistance and vested interests.

Book Review: A Woman’s Place: US Counterterrorism since 9/11 by Joana Cook

Book Review: <i>A Woman’s Place: US Counterterrorism since 9/11</i> by Joana Cook

The Efficacy of Airpower in Counterinsurgency

Since 2001, the United States has relied upon air strikes in its global counterterrorism campaign against insurgencies throughout the world. With advances in air strike technology, public opinion growing increasingly intolerant of deployments of ground forces abroad, and the proliferation of terrorist groups around the world, the use of air strikes appears to be the future of US counterterrorism policy. This study tests the efficacy of air strikes as a counterinsurgency tool by geocoordinating US air strike data and merging it with three major databases on conflict events to assess whether air strikes influence the rate of insurgent attacks. Our analysis reveals that air strikes reduce insurgents’ capacity to carry out attacks over the long term. At the same time, air strikes carry a short-term, provocative effect on insurgent attacks when they result in civilian fatalities. Finally, there is some evidence that air strikes increase attack attempts, but these attempts are not always successful, nor directed toward government forces.

The fungible terrorist: abject whiteness, domestic terrorism, and the multicultural security state

ABSTRACT Taking the Capitol riots of January 6 as a point of departure, this article queries the utility of abject white violence to the US security state through a focus on the latest push for domestic terrorism legislation. Drawing on the first-ever National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism released by the White House in June 2021, we trace how the US security state constructs white supremacist violence as both abject and anachronistic, a creative project of history-making through which the liberal security state operationalizes that violence to bolster and expand US empire and counterinsurgency. Further, we explore how the fungibility of abject whiteness within contemporary US counterterrorism creates a metonymic power by which the foreign and domestic cohere, collapse, and diverge through the figure of the racialized terrorist to suit the needs of the imperial state. While the state’s current push for domestic terrorism legislation publicly portrays a stance of historical reconciliation and multicultural protectionism, the figure of the domestic terrorist functions as a conduit through which the violence of the state is rerouted. Through this vision of besieged multiculturalism, the liberal security state seeks to creatively refashion US empire domestically and at the global scale.

US Counter-terrorism: Moving Beyond Global Counter-insurgency to Strongpoint Defence

What should the future of US counter-terrorism policy be? This article reviews American strategic successes and mistakes of the past 20 years, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Drifting objectives, public intolerance of risk and a misguided counter-insurgency approach to counter-terrorism all yielded an undifferentiated global campaign of attrition that the United States could never win. As the years passed, tactics eclipsed strategic thinking altogether. Meanwhile, the impact of digital technology, a resurgent right-wing threat and rising major powers such as Russia and China altered the global context and required new thinking. The only way the United States can respond effectively, especially after the calamitous and credibility-sapping withdrawal from Afghanistan, is to build stronger links with capable allies and partners, and to reframe its approach. The future of US counter-terrorism demands moving beyond a symmetrical US global counter-insurgency approach and adopting a selective, asymmetrical strategy of strongpoint defence.

Sino-American Tensions and Their Effects on Counter-terrorism Operations in Djibouti

This research note examines the tensions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China in Djibouti. Djibouti has become a battleground of interests between the US and China with both building military bases on its territory. The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) utilises its base to conduct naval operations and to implement the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), often conflicting with US operations and interests. The research note relies on primary documents to investigate the interaction between the two states over Djibouti and to assess whether and how China’s presence is an obstacle to US counterterrorism operations. This analysis indicates that a conflict of interests between the US and China is inevitable, but the US’ counterterrorism operation in Djibouti can be protected from the diplomatic conflict.

Droned Out? Counterterrorism Policies in Yemen

AbstractYemen has been the target of a high level of drone strikes by the US government, but we know very little about public reaction to such strikes, even though scholars of foreign policy have been concerned about the possibility of blowback from the Yemeni public. We conducted 63 in‐depth interviews to assess how Yemenis think about terrorism and US counterterrorism strategies. In particular, we were interested in evidence of blowback among the public. We find that Yemenis have very negative views toward drone strikes, primarily related to the death of innocent bystanders and violations of sovereignty. We also see evidence of blowback in our interviews, with respondents expressing the belief that US counterterrorism policies contribute to the creation of new insurgents, the destabilization of the government, and the deterioration of US‐Yemeni relations. At the same time, a substantial portion of interviewees think the United States can follow other strategies to help Yemen combat terrorism within its borders.

Современные подходы США к борьбе с терроризмом

The fight against terrorism in the United States today is one of the priority areas for ensuring national security. Counterterrorism is carried out by US ministries and departments in close coordination and interaction with each other, with the wide involvement of the resources of various public associations and civil society structures. At the same time, the activity of US law enforcement agencies to counter terrorism at the federal level (in the US executive branch) is largely decentralized and is carried out mainly by the forces of five key ministries and departments: the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury and the United States Postal Service; moreover, the US Department of Homeland Security plays the role of a system integrator – an «umbrella structure», which brought together under its leadership various departments and services involved in the fight against terrorism (except for the CIA and the FBI). The American strategy of combating terrorism is based on the principles of inevitability of punishment, «no negotiations and concessions», and pressure on countries that, to one degree or another, «support» terrorism. In general, the system of combating terrorism in the United States is modern and meets the latest realities, challenges and threats in this area. It is constantly being improved and reformed, increasing its effectiveness. At the same time, modern terrorism, responding to new forms and methods of struggle, is constantly evolving, striving to adapt to the new conditions of its existence; the emergence of its new, evolutionarily more advanced, structurally more complex forms requires new organizational and technological solutions from the US counterterrorism system.

Carl Schmitt, the chameleon

This comment focuses on part III of the book, ‘Carl Schmitt’s 21st Century’, by William Scheuerman. It raises two points. The first point concerns the author’s continuity thesis. According to Scheuerman, Schmitt’s ideas ‘exhibit more continuity than widely asserted’. This has consequences both for how we should read Schmitt and for how we should approach authors who use his concepts (such as in the US counterterrorism debate Scheuerman discusses in chapter 10). This comment wants to question this view and instead wants to propose what might be called a chameleon thesis. Schmitt’s thinking contains repeated shifts that are not accidental (1). This may also have implications for how we view attempts to use Schmitt in contemporary thought (2).

CATASTROPHE AND RATIONAL POLICY: CASE OF NATIONAL SECURITY

Predicting catastrophes involves heavy‐tailed distributions with no mean, eluding proactive policy as expected cost‐benefit analysis fails. We study US government counterterrorism policy, given heightened risk of terrorism. But terrorism also involves human behavior. We synthesize the behavioral and statistical aspects in an adversary‐defender game. Calibration to extensive data shows that where a Weibull distribution is the best predictor, US counterterrorism policy is rational (and optimal). Here, we estimate the adversary's unobserved variables, e.g., difficulty of an attack. We also find cases where the best predictor is a Generalized‐Pareto with no finite mean and rational policy fails. Here, we offer “work‐arounds”. (JEL H56, D81, C46)

US counterterrorism in the Sahel: from indirect to direct intervention

Abstract The massive expansion and evolution of United States security cooperation under the auspices of the ‘war on terror’ remains overlooked in the counterterrorism and interventions literature. The Sahel provides a useful region in which to explore the constitutive effects of such cooperation and its evolution because the US has always pursued an ‘economy of force’ mission there. In this article, I focus mainly on the constitutive effects of US indirect military intervention in the Sahel after 9/11, and subsequent more direct military intervention following the outbreak of civil war in Mali. The indirect intervention by the United States to build the capacity of local forces in Mali, where jihadists were based, failed because of the dissonant relationship between the two countries. This led the United States to intervene more directly in the region, including through its cooperation with and support for French and Nigerien forces. The nature of this more direct military intervention was also informed by evolving US experiences working by, with and through partner forces in other parts of the world.

Comprehensive Peace Agreement and Challenges February 2020: A Case of United States and Taliban

Afghanistan remained the battleground for a long time period for number of strategic wars by external forces. Diverse and multifaceted Afghan society paved the way for external forces. Several negotiations were held for making the peace in country. Many peace agreements failed because the conflict was not addressed. There is a need to reach beyond the use of military force and to apply inclusive approach by involving the civil society in peace building. It is recognized as a crucial factor in the success of peace process. After more than 18 years of war, the US and the Taliban have reached an agreement to end the war. The central deal for the agreement is to withdrawal of US troops and counter terrorism assurance from Taliban. This study digs out, the factors involved in Afghan conflict and their demands from the peace process. The study relies on secondary sources to develop arguments.

American security strategy towards terrorism after September 11 attacks

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine evolution of the American strategy toward terrorism in the aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001. In other words, this study revolves around a key question: How and why the American security strategy toward terrorism evolved in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001? Based on the neorealist approach in international relations, this paper attempted to answer that question: first, through defining the concept of terrorism and how the Americans perceive it; second, via pinpointing the characteristic of the American counter-terrorism strategy before September 11 attacks; and third, through examining the effects of those terrorist attacks on that strategy. Design/methodology/approach The nature of the subject of this study calls for reliance on the analytical descriptive approach to highlight the role and strategy of the USA in the fight against terrorism following the events of September 11, in addition to the use of the system analysis methodology, which can identify the inputs and outputs of the system that had an impact in formulating the US counter-terrorism strategy. Findings This study has come up with seven findings. The first finding was that the 9/11 attacks served as a turning point of the US counter-terrorism strategy and restructured its agenda. Confronting the communist threat had been its primary objective, until terrorism came to the fore and became its first and foremost priority. The USA vowed that terrorism is its enemy and waged the war on terror to thwart its risk as a global threat. The second finding revolves around the idea of double standards in the American foreign policy. True to its long-standing tradition of favoring its own interests, in complete disregard of the interests of any other party, the USA continued to uphold the double-standards policy. Originality/value This study adds a new study to the Arab Library in the field of counter-terrorism studies, national security strategies and American foreign policy. In addition, the researcher seeks to complete the scientific effort to study the US strategy against terrorism, with a clear impact on the development of the situation in the region. This study contributes to the study of how one of the great powers in the international system, the USA, deals with the terrorist organizations that have become widespread in the Arab region.

When ends Trump means: continuity versus change in US counterterrorism policy

ABSTRACT This article utilizes a historical materialist informed framework to analyse change and continuity in US counterterrorism policy. Although Donald Trump’s “America First” discourse conveyed a “new” approach to counterterrorism, in practice his administration has largely reinforced pre-existing tendencies, expanding the military campaigns against ISIS and al-Qaeda. In accordance with America’s longstanding objectives in the global south, which centre on stabilizing existing patterns of capitalist political-economic relations, the US continues to police transnational security challenges “from below”. The article calls for increased sensitivity to the means-ends calculus in American statecraft. It argues that tactical shifts at the policy level (the means) should be situated in relation to historical considerations and the structural and material factors (the ends) that impact US foreign policymaking across presidential administrations.