	Overview

In 1998, Al Qaeda (AQ) conducted its first U.S.-documented terrorist attacks against U.S. interests, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans, and injuring over 4,500 in the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. According to the U.S. State Department, the continued presence of Al Qaeda operatives in the region and Islamist militants in Somalia poses the greatest threat to U.S. and allied government interests in the region, where porous borders remain vulnerable to the movement of terrorists and illicit materials. The reported recruitment efforts of Al Shabaab in the United States have also raised concern regarding threats to the homeland and the involvement of U.S. citizens in terrorism activities overseas. The United States implements a range of overt, covert, and clandestine programs to counter the transnational terrorist threat in this region. This report explores U.S. measures to prevent, deter, and preempt terrorism in East Africa, focusing on the response to threats posed by violent Islamist extremist groups such as Al Qaeda and Al Shabaab. The report describes both regional and bilateral programs designed to counter the influence and activities of violent extremist organizations. Which agencies currently implement counterterrorism programs? He introduced S.Res. Several bills were introduced in the aftermath of the 2010 Kampala bombings: H.Con.Res. Related legislation, H.Res. The committee has also sought to expand or enhance several counterterrorism authorities, including the "Section 1208" program, which allows DOD to provide assistance to foreign forces facilitating U.S. Special Operations Forces operations to counter terrorism; various counter-ideology initiatives, including efforts to facilitate DOD understanding of the cultural and ideological contexts of radicalization; and the "Section 1206" train and equip program, which has been used to build capabilities in East Africa. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has investigated the activities of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and its sub-regional presence in Djibouti, the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA). The region's porous borders, proximity to the Arabian Peninsula, weak law enforcement and judicial institutions, pervasive corruption, and, in some cases, state complicity in terrorist activities, combined with the almost 20-year absence of central authority in Somalia, have provided an enabling environment for Al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups. The U.S. According to the State Department's Country Reports on Terrorism , the threat these groups pose remains largely focused on targets in the region:
Al-Shabaab's leadership was supportive of al-Qa'ida (AQ), and both groups continued to present a serious terrorist threat to American and allied interests throughout the Horn of Africa…. The United States does not provide direct funding support to the African Union for AMISOM. A brief overview of U.S. counterterrorism efforts in the region by country is provided in Appendix A . Select Oversight Issues for Congress

		Policy and Program Coordination of Regional Counterterrorism Programs

Strategic guidance for U.S. counterterrorism and counter-extremism efforts in East Africa is provided by multiple government agencies, and the extent to which there is a comprehensive and integrated interagency plan for countering the threat regionally is unclear. U.S. efforts to strengthen the capacity of Somali intelligence services in the past decade have reportedly led to some notable successes, including the disruption of terrorist operations in the planning stages, and such efforts have reportedly assisted the capture of several AQ operatives in Somalia. Reported U.S. assistance to Somali "security forces" in the past has been controversial. The State Department reports that the country remains vulnerable to international terrorism. House Homeland Security Committee, "The Evolving Nature of Terrorism," September 15, 2010. Hearings on political instability and terrorist activities in Somalia:
House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, "The Horn of Africa: Current Conditions and U.S. Policy," June 17, 2010; and "Somalia: Prospects for a Lasting Peace and a Unified Response to Extremism and Terrorism," June 25, 2009 
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "Developing a Coordinated and Sustainable Strategy for Somalia," May 20, 2009 
Hearing by the Senate Armed Services Committee, "U.S. Policy Toward Yemen and Somalia," April 29, 2010.
The United States government has implemented a range of programs to counter violent extremist threats in East Africa in response to Al Qaeda's bombing of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998 and subsequent transnational terrorist activity in the region. These programs include regional and bilateral efforts, both military and civilian. The programs seek to build regional intelligence, military, law enforcement, and judicial capacities; strengthen aviation, port, and border security; stem the flow of terrorist financing; and counter the spread of extremist ideologies. Current U.S.-led regional counterterrorism efforts include the State Department's East Africa Regional Strategic Initiative (EARSI) and the U.S. military's Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), part of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). The United States has also provided significant assistance in support of the African Union's (AU) peace operations in Somalia, where the country's nascent security forces and AU peacekeepers face a complex insurgency waged by, among others, Al Shabaab, a local group linked to Al Qaeda that often resorts to terrorist tactics. The State Department reports that both Al Qaeda and Al Shabaab pose serious terrorist threats to the United States and U.S. interests in the region. Evidence of linkages between Al Shabaab and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, across the Gulf of Aden in Yemen, highlight another regional dimension of the threat posed by violent extremists in the area.
Congress has appropriated increasing counterterrorism assistance for Africa over the past decade, and has demonstrated continued interest in both the nature of the terrorist threat and efforts to counter it through hearings, investigations, and legislation. Questions have been raised regarding
the level of U.S. funding and personnel dedicated to these efforts; the underlying assumptions on which these programs have been developed; cooperation between implementing agencies; and the extent to which U.S. programs actually prevent or mitigate radicalization, recruitment, and support for violent extremist organizations.
This report provides an overview of current U.S. counterterrorism assistance programs and influence operations in East Africa and explores some of the strategies underpinning them. It also provides a brief description of the evolving terrorist threat in the region. The security cooperation and civil affairs activities of the U.S. military in the region have grown substantially in the past decade, primarily in response to these threats, and the report explores the various roles of the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, Treasury, Justice, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, among other agencies, in implementing counterterrorism and counter-extremism programs in the region. The report does not address covert or clandestine operations to collect intelligence or capture or eliminate terrorist targets in the region.
Related legislation includes several bills introduced in the aftermath of the July 2010 Kampala bombings: H.Con.Res. 303, H.Res. 1538, and H.Res. 1596, as well as S.Res. 573, on Somalia; S. 3757, on Ethiopia; and H.Res. 1708, on Eritrea. For further information, see CRS Report R41070, Al Qaeda and Affiliates: Historical Perspective, Global Presence, and Implications for U.S. Policy, coordinated by John Rollins; CRS Report RL33911, Somalia: Current Conditions and Prospects for a Lasting Peace, by [author name scrubbed]; and CRS Report RL34003, Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa, by Lauren Ploch.