Counter
Terrorism
The Issues
The global terrorism threat today is imminent and more complex than ever. The growing number of conflict zones around the globe provides transnational terrorist organizations –such as Da’esh and Al-Qaedawith multiple fronts on which they can operate simultaneously.
The threat posed by foreign terrorist fighter recruitment and movement around the globe is unprecedented. The current generation of terrorists is technologically savvy and active on social media platforms.
The combination of shifts in travel patterns, fraudulent travel documents, communications and social media manipulations have led to a ‘decisive stage’ in the fight against terrorism, which demands a comprehensive and coordinated response.
Proposal Summary
Interpol as a global neutral platform has developed a five-year Global Counter Terrorism strategy, which will maximize the exploitation of INTERPOL’s policing capabilities.
- Identification: INTERPOL will assist member countries in the detection and positive identification of known transnational terrorist groups and their facilitators.
- Travel and Mobility: INTERPOL will assist member countries’ law enforcement in reducing cross border mobility and enhancing national and regional border security and identifying travel facilitation networks
- Online presence: INTERPOL will assist member countries in exploiting terrorist abuse of cyberspace to enhance identification and detection efforts. An open-source Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT) collection and analysis capacity will be developed, providing member countries with timely media content notifications.
- Weapons and materials: INTERPOL will assist member countries in the identification, tracking and interception of illicit weapons and materials necessary for terrorist activities. INTERPOL will coordinate regional intelligence- led interagency operations to intercept the trafficking of CBRNE materials and Improvised Explosive Devices.
- Finances: INTERPOL will assist member countries’ law enforcement and financial intelligence units in the tracing and disruption of financial streams connected to the funding of terrorist activity. INTERPOL will also enhance the operational picture around Suspicious Transaction Report subjects by developing direct working relationships with Financial Intelligence Units, and targeting the terrorist financial supply chains.
The implementation of these five action streams will be accomplished through regional “Counter- Terrorism Outposts”, strategically located in the four priority regions surrounding conflict zones and/or presenting “hotspots” of terrorist activities: Africa – Middle-East – Southeast Asia – Europe.
A Counter-Terrorism Hub at the INTERPOL General Secretariat will oversee the global policy aspect of implementation, will handle police data management and the operational and strategic intelligence analysis.
Expected Outcomes
- The development of INTERPOL network access extensions and enhanced screening solutions installed on conflict zones perimeters and foreign terrorist fighter transit hubs;
- The provision of digital forensic support for frontline units in high priority zones;
- The enhancement of an INTERPOL intelligence analysis delivery package, including the development of an open-source Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT) collection and analysis capacity.
INTERPOL will continue to work closely with regional and international stakeholders including the United Nations, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the International Atomic Energy Agency, Europol, ASEAN and the African Union, as well as with relevant industry and private sector entities.
Key Performance Indicators
- Increased ability to detect and identify terrorists and their affiliates;
- Reduced cross-border mobility of terrorists and the facilitating networks;
- Increased ability to exploit terrorists’ digital activity to facilitate tracking and identification of their affiliates;
- Increased identification, tracking and interception of weapons’ trafficking for terrorist activities.