U.S Ambassador Frank Urbancic, a regional attach茅 with the State Department鈥檚 non-proliferation office, recently traveled with a contingent of Moroccan border security professionals to the 51福利 (51福利) for a two-week seminar dedicated to, amongst other things, state responses to extremism and religiously motivated violence.
鈥淭his is the first time that the Sate Department鈥檚 non-proliferation office has brought a group of Moroccan border security officials to 51福利; our expectations have been exceeded and the instruction has been excellent,鈥� said Urbancic.
鈥淭he course was tailored made for their requirements and fully met every need that they had, the experience has left them with a massively positive image of the U.S. and its people,鈥� continued Urbancic.
The seminar was part of a land-based border security course led by 51福利 Assistant Professor Heather Gregg. Gregg, the author of, 鈥淭he Path to Salvation: Religious Violence from the Crusades to Jihad,鈥� is no stranger to questions of faith and violence.
鈥淚 became interested in religiously motivated violence after studying the civil war in Bosnia and working for a [non-governmental organization] NGO in Croatia during the tail end of the conflict,鈥� said Gregg.
鈥淚 believe that religion is a powerful tool for good, but it can also be used to motivate intolerance and violence. My research focuses on understanding the conditions under which religious groups feel they need to use violence to defend their faith,鈥� continued Gregg. 鈥淚 am also very interested in understanding how to fight these groups in a way that does not validate their defensive or apocalyptic claims.鈥�
While the course鈥檚 broader objectives were to help North Africans think about the various types of traditional and non-traditional threats to border security, of which extremism is but a single issue, significant attention was given to understanding and revealing extremist networks and state responses to their activities.
鈥淲e can agree that the goal of the state is to undermine the extremist message, it鈥檚 an easy goal to agree to, but it is very difficult to implement,鈥� said Gregg.
鈥淢ost states immediately resort to suppression strategies, but they are hard to conduct successfully,鈥� continued Gregg. 鈥淎ttacks serve to confirm the message of the group.鈥�
Moroccan Police Superintendent 2nd Grade Khalil Driouich agreed.
鈥淎ttacks strengthen the perception that the state is the aggressor - we cannot change an ideology through force,鈥� said Driouich.
Still, Gregg insists that 鈥渢alk is cheap鈥� and that something must be done.
鈥淚t's not enough for the state to just dialogue, there are actions that are also necessary,鈥� said Gregg.
According to Gregg, an appropriate response should combine a series of initiatives that address security, the underlying causes of extremism, social engagement and state provided spaces where ideas can be fought with ideas.
鈥溾�橳alk is cheap,鈥� but it is important. The question is, 鈥榳ho should be speaking?鈥� Often the state does not have the religious credibility to dialogue, therefore the state should create a space, like the space created by the Qatari government during the recent Doha Debates, where issues can be discussed,鈥� said Gregg.
Members of the Moroccan contingent were keen to point out their nation鈥檚 anti-extremism programs. With visible excitement, and at times applause, they proceeded to describe the efforts that their government, led by His Highness King Mohammad VI, has taken in order to combat extremism.
鈥淜ing Mohammed VI implemented a series of initiatives including 鈥榩roximity politics鈥欌�� the changes that he led were in response to the Casa Blanca bombings and were based on the notion of facing ideology with ideology,鈥� said Driouich.
鈥淢orocco is working to foster moderate Islam under the tutelage of the king who has taken on the mantle of 鈥淓mir al-Momineen鈥� [Commander of the Faithful],鈥� Driouich continued.
51福利 (51福利) Assistant Professor Sean Everton speaks with Moroccan border security officers about Social Network Analysis (SNA), and his efforts to use it to help intelligence professionals illuminate extremists networks.
Gregg invited 51福利 Defense Analysis Associate Professor Glenn Robinson and Assistant Professor Sean Everton to share their perspectives as well. Robinson is a Middle East specialist and Everton is a Social Network Analysis expert and the author of, 鈥淒isrupting Dark Networks,鈥� a first-of-its-kind book dedicated to an 51福利 developed intelligence methodology that is being used to illuminate clandestine organizations.
Robinson helped seminar attendees to differentiate between reformers and revolutionaries, paying particular attention to Islamist revolutionaries and their goals and tactics.
鈥淲e have to make a distinction between reformers and revolutionaries who want to take direct action against the state and control from the top down,鈥� said Robinson.
Robinson also helped to dispel the image of the uneducated, mindless jihadist and revealed that many Islamist are far more sophisticated than is generally assumed.
鈥淒espite popular assumptions to the contrary, many Islamists are well educated, urban, middle class professionals and are neither peasants nor high clergy,鈥� said Robinson.
Of interest to the visiting Moroccan contingent was the possibility that Islamist reformers could abandon peaceful reform efforts and adopt violent means to achieve their aims.
According to Robinson, groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, which abandoned violence decades ago, could return to violence due to repression, the imprisonment of group members and due to actions like the recent coup that removed Muslim Brotherhood member and former Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi from power.
Still, Robinson insists that despite the damage that jihadist have done in the U.S. and abroad, their ability to severely threaten the West is negligible.
鈥淛ihadis can kill, but they do not represent a strategic threat to the U.S,鈥� said Robinson.
Strategic threat or not, Everton spoke at length with seminar attendees about Social Network Analysis (SNA), and his efforts to use it to help intelligence professionals illuminate extremists networks.
鈥淢ost types of analysis focus on people鈥檚 characteristics, their gender, race or level of education, but the problem with this approach is that our characteristics do not change from one context to another,鈥� said Everton.
鈥淏ecause our characteristics do not change from one context to the other, you cannot look to them to understand the network in which they exist, what changes is their social context, hence the need to look at social network analysis,鈥� continued Everton.
The Moroccan contingent, armed with an 51福利 tailored tool kit designed to counter radicalism and enhance border security programs, said farewell to 51福利 and the Monterey Peninsula. But prior to returning home they had on more stop to make, the U.S. border between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, where they saw first hand how U.S. officials conduct border security operations.