Kingdom’s fight against terrorism

The Bangkok terror blast this week is simply the latest example of a worldwide terror menace. An infectious disease knows no frontiers. Nor does terrorism. The scourge has become international. As such, it requires an international response.
Yet remarkably, it was almost a decade after 9/11 before that response was able to be properly coordinated. And Saudi Arabia has played an important role in that development.
Moreover, by at least one important measure, the Kingdom is at the forefront of the war on terror. In 2014, Saudi Arabia gave $100 million to the United Nations Center for Counter-Terrorism (UNCCT). By contrast the United States gave just $4.9 million.
The UNCCT was created four years ago with robust support from the Saudi government. It saw the need for a coordination of the world’s reaction to the challenges posed by terror groups. This was all the more necessary, because the nature of terrorism had itself become international. Seeking to tackle the dangers piecemeal, on a state-by-state basis would prove inadequate. The Saudi-inspired vision behind this key tactical initiative has received international endorsement. Besides the Kingdom and the United States, the UNCCT is strongly backed for instance by Norway, Switzerland, the EU itself and most EU member states.
The UNCCT has quickly earned itself a place in the front line of the battle against the international menace of terror. It operates directly under the UN secretary-general. Its core brief is the application of a Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. So far it has been working on 31 different projects. Its 22-member advisory board is chaired by Saudi Arabia’s permanent UN representative Abdullah Al-Mouallimi.
A major area of the UNCCT’s work is to advise on the structures that allow different organizations in different countries to cooperate. There is an in-built reluctance among all security agencies to share intelligence. This is understandable. Key information may only have come from a single, valued secret source. Just letting others know what that informant told his or her handlers, could immediately identify them and place them in danger.
The blunt reality is that security agencies may believe that they have complete confidence in their own people but they will always be suspicious of the reliability of other organizations in other countries.
The links between these silos of information are therefore a matter of the greatest sensitivity. Nevertheless, there is a general acknowledgement that, wherever feasible, intelligence should be shared. Where UNCCT is contributing is by helping all involved in the war on terror understand each other’s needs and capabilities. Security operatives need to know who to call when they have questions or information.
And unfortunately, it is not just a case of helping countries understand each other's intelligence function. Within the same country, different security organizations treat each other as rivals and do no cooperate. This is an issue which the Kingdom has already addressed. It is well aware of the risks of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing.
Saudi Arabia’s prominent and internationally respected role in the battle to defeat terrorism stems from the fact that it has long stood in the front line against evil. This week, the director of the UN’s Counterterrorism Implementation Task Force, Jehangir Khan, speaking with Abdullah Al-Mouallimi alongside him, pointed out a harsh truth that the international community too often overlooks. The most victims of terror and the highest losses in the battle against terror, are in Arab countries.
The United States recoiled in rage at the depraved 9/11 attacks. The establishment of the Guantanamo Bay detention center was one of the mistakes in its furious response.
Saudis are no less angry at the assaults that have been mounted in the Kingdom. But behind the steely and uncompromising response, there has also been a more thoughtful approach, which has paid dividends. Jehangir Khan singled this out during his Riyadh visit.
The Prince Mohammed bin Naif Center for Counseling and Care is a unique institution, he said, that worked with captured terrorists to reintegrate them into society. This policy of talking to convicted terrorists is longstanding. It acknowledges the reality that many young recruits to terrorist groups were duped and brainwashed. Their youthful idealism was hijacked and distorted. Providing they have not been guilty of heinous crimes, once they are caught, they are offered a way back.
The Kingdom’s willingness to embrace this merciful policy has been viewed with incredulity by other countries embroiled in the war against terror. Overall the program has been remarkably successful. It deserves to be copied elsewhere.