US House Panel Warns of Africa’s Growing Terrorism Threat

Africa has become the world’s most active terrorism theatre, with more than two-thirds of ISIS’s global activity occurring on the continent, according to a new report by the US House Committee on Homeland Security.

The committee, in a report released Thursday ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, said seven of the 10 countries recording the highest number of terrorism-related deaths were in Africa.

It, however, said US and partner resources on the continent remained limited, while intelligence coverage was uneven.

The report, titled “25th Anniversary Report: National Security Improvements and the Domestic Threat Landscape 25 Years After 9/11/01,” assesses changes in the United States’ homeland security posture since the attacks and examines emerging threats to the country.

“The shift of jihadist activity toward Africa presents a strategic dilemma.

“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 theater. Yet U.S. and partner resources remain limited, and intelligence coverage is uneven,” the committee said in the report.

The committee said the changing nature of terrorism had also forced the US to rethink how it identifies and prioritises threats, citing the expansion of the Foreign Terrorist Organization list to include cartels, criminal networks and ideologically diverse extremist groups.

It also identified the rise of lone actors and “inspired attackers” as a challenge requiring a shift from organisation-focused counterterrorism to prevention based on individual behaviour.

“The rise of lone actors and inspired attackers requires a shift from organization-centric counterterrorism to behavior-centric prevention,” the report said.

The committee further warned that the legal distinction between domestic terrorism, hate crimes and foreign-inspired extremism complicated both prosecution and prevention efforts.

It also identified the convergence of terrorism and cyber capabilities as an emerging challenge, saying traditional counterterrorism tools were insufficient for the new environment.

Beyond terrorism, the committee said the US was facing increasingly sophisticated cyber threats from nation states with capabilities comparable to intelligence services and military organisations.

“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 organizations.”

The committee said the number of systems, devices, applications and third parties that organisations needed to protect had also expanded dramatically.

It said artificial intelligence was accelerating the transformation, with the technology capable of helping defenders analyse large volumes of security data, identify abnormal behaviour, prioritise vulnerabilities, generate defensive code and augment the cyber workforce.

But the committee said the same capabilities could be used by malicious actors.

The report also highlighted continuing challenges around border security, screening and vetting.

It said advances in non-intrusive inspection technologies, including backscatter radiation scanners, had expanded the capacity to search cargo and improve safety, but warned that the sheer volume of goods entering the US increased the risk of dangerous contraband going undetected.

The committee said suspected terrorist organisations, transnational criminal organisations, human-smuggling networks and foreign non-state actors were increasingly exploiting commercially available cryptography, telecommunications and financial technologies to conceal and coordinate illicit activities.

It also said improvements along the US-Mexico border had prompted transnational criminal organisations to shift some of 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,” the report said.