Counter Terrorism & Intelligence Analysis

Running head: COUNTER TERRORISM & INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS
Counter Terrorism & Intelligence Analysis
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1COUNTER TERRORISM & INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS
Contents
1. Understanding the Threat of ISIS.......................................................................................2
Background of ISIS:...............................................................................................................2
How ISIS is a threat to America:...........................................................................................2
2. Intelligence Assets and Capability......................................................................................4
Central Intelligence Agency:..................................................................................................4
Federal Bureau of Investigation:............................................................................................4
Interpol:..................................................................................................................................5
How the three intelligence assets can work together to provide a better understanding of
the threat:................................................................................................................................5
3. Request for Intelligence..................................................................................................6
From CIA:..............................................................................................................................6
From Interpol:........................................................................................................................7
From FBI:...............................................................................................................................8
4. DHS Recommendations to Law Enforcement Agencies....................................................8
Focusing on all types of threats posed by ISIS (domestic and foreign):................................8
Mobilizing other Intelligence Agencies to stop ISIS.............................................................9
References:...............................................................................................................................11

2COUNTER TERRORISM & INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS
1. Understanding the Threat of ISIS
Background of ISIS:
Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) is also known as Islamic State of Iraq and
Levant (ISIL) or Islamic State (IS) or by the acronym ‘Daesh’. They have been labelled as a
terrorist organization by the United Nations and is mainly comprised of the Salafi group of
Jihadist, a fundamentalist faction from Iraq and Syria following the Sunni doctrine called
Salafi. They have been accused by International organizations of human rights abuses, war
crimes and ethnic cleansing (cia.gov, 2018). ISIS started as a faction of Al Qaeda based in
Iraq where they played a key role in the Iraqi insurgency after it was invaded in 2003 by
United States and its allies. After ceasing control over several provinces in the west and north
of Iraq and declared themselves as a ‘Caliphate’with the name Islamic State. The ISIS later
expanded to the eastern part of Syria by 2015, as some of the members from the Free Syrian
Army started to join ISIS (Gray, 2014; wilsoncenter.org, 2018).
In the areas under the control of ISIS, a strict Sharia law was followed, that shunned
every form of modernism, and subjected its people to immense cruelty. Harshest of
punishments were doled out to anyone not following their laws, and the faction was actively
involved in recruiting mercenaries to terrorize sits neighborhood regions, in the attempt to
destabilize them and spread its control even further (Blanchard & Humud, 2018). By 2014,
ISIS became independent of Al Qaida because of conflicts between Abu Bakr AL Baghdadi
who was the leader of ISIS and Al Zawahiri from the leadership of Al Qaida. ISIS wanted to
take a more aggressive approach in its actions (Mazzetti et al., 2017; Archick et al., 2015).
How ISIS is a threat to America:

3COUNTER TERRORISM & INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS
ISIS follows a radical Islamic view of the world that is based on the concepts of sharia
(the word of god) and jihad (holy war) against all infidels and apostates. The group’s
ambition is to develop an Islamic control over the world and fight against the influence of
western culture (Mazzetti et al., 2017). They promote religious violence and ethnic cleansing
and superiority of Islam over other religions. It also condemns any muslim who does not
follow the scripture as infidels and apostates and considers people from the Shia Islamic
Group as unworthy. Adopting the ‘Seal of Muhammed’ on their flag clearly shows their
intentions to restore the system of caliphate that existed in the early Islamic ages, and
according to some authors, their ideologies have been significantly influenced by the
ideologies of the post Ottomanic Islamic group called the Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt
in the 1920’s (bbc.com, 2018). Since its formation ISIS have been engaged in the recruitment
of fighters from all over the world through its aggressive propaganda, many of these recruits
are from the western countries. These ‘radicalized’ individuals trained by ISIS are then used
to execute terrorist plots across the western countries. Many of such terrorist attacks have
been targeted for cities in the United States, where different American Citizens claiming
allegiance to the ISIS have planned shootouts or bombings. These activities have
significantly affected the homeland security in United States, as well the safety of thousands
of Americans living abroad in regions under the influence of ISIS and their operatives
(Humud et al., 2018). Since ISIS has singled our United States and United Kingdom as the
main targets for their ‘Jihad’, it makes this organization particularly threat to the peace of
these nations. Some of the most prominent activities of the ISIS includes ethnic cleansing,
abductions, extortions and human trafficking, apart from organizing terrorist activities in
different western countries and publicly executing their prisoners (abcnews.go.com, 2015;
cbsnews.com, 2018). They finance themselves primarily through extortions, smuggling or