7/15/10

Readers can watch yesterday's National Security Network-Center for American Progress Action Fund event, entitled "Strengthening America's Security," in its entirety here.

Yesterday the National Security Network and the Center for American Progress Action Fund held a groundbreaking forum on domestic radicalization.  Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) and a prestigious panel of experts, including former New York and Los Angeles Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, led the discussion.  The discussion focused on the importance of working with local communities in order to both identify and counter radicalization by developing a strong relationship between law enforcement and local communities.  Such actions are essential to countering domestic radicalization, and part of a broader effort to combat terrorism both at home and abroad by utilizing all aspects of American power.

In particular, the discussion highlighted how community organizations and the families of radicalized individuals - those on the front lines of this challenge - have time and again proven to be crucial participants in disrupting terrorist plots and preventing radicalization.  For example, the Muslim Public Affairs Council found in a recent report that one-third of the post-9/11 al Qaeda-related plots in the U.S. had been foiled by Muslim Americans.  This is because, as Congressman Ellison pointed out, "...people...step forward (and) engage in these interventions because they trusted their government enough with that information, not because they feared their government..."  The lesson from yesterday's forum was that the Muslim American community is committed to combating violent extremism, to both protect our communities and advance American security, and that better engagement and communications is beneficial to everyone.

America has the tools to enhance its domestic counter-radicalization efforts.  At yesterday's forum, former New York and Los Angeles Police Commissioner Bill Bratton listed the many instruments that America has at its disposal for dealing with domestic radicalization.

Draw on community policing success stories from the last decade: "American policing can be a leading entity in dealing with this issue of terrorism because they have been able to do this already with the African American community and gang community."

Learn from lessons dealing with crime in the U.S.: "I think there are lessons to be learned, certainly in my capacity as the former chief in Los Angeles, a lot of what I brought in dealing with terrorism I was taking from lessons learned in dealing with gangs and dealing with issues of race in New York and Los Angeles and I think we can be informed from that experience."

Build strong relationships with communities, across demographics: Recalling the LAPD's efforts to counter radicalization related to gang activity, Bratton said: "We couldn't just interact with the churches to deal with gangs, we had to deal with the gangs interventionists. Most cops don't want anything to do with them, because often they have violent backgrounds. The only way we were going to make inroads was working with interventionists, who recognized that they wanted out and wanted to help others get out."

Respond to communities' concerns: "Partnerships not only on (the) police level but local communities - to understand their priorities, fears... in the 90s focused on African American communities...As we move in to the 21^stcentury with the paradigm expanding to encompass terrorism... and the growing concern and acceleration of homegrown terrorism, there is a model of policing that is being used...in which we're able to reach out fairly quickly to a community."

[William Bratton, 7/14/10]

A comprehensive approach to counter-radicalization requires a whole of government approach.  Combating radicalization - part of a broader counterterrorism approach that includes taking the fight to terrorists abroad; disrupting plots at home; bringing terrorists to justice; and denying terrorists propaganda tools - requires a whole of government approach that connects different levels of the government.  As the National Security Council's Senior Director for Global Engagement Pradeep Ramamurthy said at yesterday's event,  "In terms of the whole of government effort, I think that part of this is that we need to, and we are, working diligently to increase our understanding of the problem, and to better connect federal departments and agencies, not just in the law enforcement and security community but perhaps outside of those, such as the social service community etc, to make sure that where there are complementary programs and where information sharing is useful and helpful, that is occurring."  Ramamurthy went on to discuss the need for broader engagement with the Muslim American Community pointing out that anti-terrorism efforts cannot be the only component for engagement and cooperation: "It has to be clear that this is a part of our engagement with the Muslim-American community. Muslim-Americans are Americans first and foremost...it would have to be done in a way that makes it clear that we recognize that the American government's engagement with Muslim-American communities is not defined by this threat. It is an aspect of our overall engagement, which is far more comprehensive."  

Another panelist, David Schanzer, outlined in a recent report how this broader engagement is beneficial, by providing the space for greater political involvement: "A further set of efforts that Muslim-Americans have undertaken since September 11, 2001, involve participation in the democratic politics of the United States. As with other activities of Muslim-American communities, the primary goal is not preventing radicalization, but is, instead, the defense of the rights and interests of Muslim-Americans in a political environment that they experience as threatening. Nonetheless, this political mobilization has the effect of channeling grievances into democratic forums and integrating Muslim-Americans into the democratic system." [Pradeep Ramamurthy, 7/14/10. David Schanzer, et al., 1/6/10]

Engaging communities is a two-way street that will require additional efforts and infrastructure.  Communication between authorities and local communities must be a two way street because most Muslim-Americans know little about terrorists' recruiting methods.  As panelist Nadia Roumani, Director of the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute, pointed out, law enforcement and intelligence agencies should reach out to inform Muslim-Americans about this threat.  Roumani also pointed out that there remains a need to further develop infrastructure for dealing with this multifaceted issue.  As she described it, "These communities are under a pressure cooker... where are there safe spaces for these communities to engage on these issues?... there are small programs that are trying to really engage young people in the political process... [but] young people are so disenfranchised because of what is happening in schools and campus... where are there constructive alternatives that go beyond narrative and to engagement to where it's about the issues?"  She further described the challenge as both an immediate and a long term one: "There's long term engagement and then there's short term engagement, when it comes to issues of crisis engagement it is totally missing... we're starting to build long term engagement which is natural. But where is the infrastructure on crisis engagement? When there is an incident what gets mobilized within a community besides a press release?" [Nadia Roumani, 7/14/10]

What We're Reading

The United States handed over the last detention facility under its control to Iraqi authorities.

According to government data, China's economy has slowed from its blistering growth earlier this year after the government took measures to ward off inflation and rein in a runaway property market.

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has said he will crush Somalia's al-Shabab over deadly blasts in Kampala that killed 74 people.

The Iranian nuclear scientist who claimed to have been abducted by the CIA before departing for his homeland was paid more than $5 million by the agency to provide intelligence on Iran's nuclear program.

A report from the Oxford Research Group found that an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities would start a long war and probably not prevent Iran from eventually acquiring nuclear weapons.

After intensive negotiations with NATO military commanders, the Afghan government approved a program to establish local defense forces.

Over China's opposition, the United States and South Korea will announce military exercises next week when the U.S. secretaries of state and defense visit Seoul.

Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has replaced his interior minister, Fernando Gomez Mont, who oversaw the crackdown of powerful drug cartels.

Oxfam estimates that about 40,000 people have fled their homes in the northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo following fighting.

Commentary of the Day

Noah Shachtman lays out the five steps needed to ensure that the U.S. remains the dominant force in the sky.

Max Bergmann points out that for New START to get ratified, all that is needed is for the Republican Senators that voted for the initial treaty the first time around to vote for it again.

Fred Kaplan says Gen. David Petraeus is already making improvements in Afghanistan, but they won't matter if the country's president, Hamid Karzai, doesn't reform.