Since 9/11, the United States has managed to pre-empt terror attacks by gathering intelligence and promptly securing terror targets besides orchestrating events that stymie threats posed by terrorists.
In Kenya, the trend is rather worrying. Serious questions have risen in recent past over the commitment and capacity of Kenya to fight terrorism.
US State Department and the Kenyan citizens have criticized the government security agencies due to increased terror attacks in the country.
Politicians and the clergy, besides the business community in Kenya believe the national intelligence service and the police services are not doing enough to detect and pre-empt terror and criminals in the country.
Poor Knowledge in Terrorism and Intelligence
Kenya’s cabinet minister for security recently attempted to explain how terrorists work only to dent the overall feel of the security dockets knowledge of intelligence on terrorism.
Terrorists pick easy targets that’s why they are attacking buses and churches, was his professional overview on the recent attacks in Kenya.
Another security chief convinced citizens that police had been deployed to border areas to stop terrorists from coming in to the country, which itself is a poor pre-emptive strategy.
What Terrorists Target
Terrorists will only attack targets that are important to those who own resources and assets related to that target.
Targets are not randomly picked rather spied on before being hit.
Kenya needs to train experts in this field. Understanding the cycle of terrorists planning and identifying the patterns in events that orchestrate terror events is the most important step to win the war on terror in Kenya.
Knowledgeable officers or agencies in the field of intelligence and terrorism studies can provide the desired pre-emptive anti-terror strategy.
