Congressional Testimony: Al Qaeda's Persistent Threat

Testimony of Jennifer Cafarella before the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee hearing on July 13, 2017 titled "The Persistent Threat: al Qaeda's Evolution and Resilience."

Chairman King, Ranking Member Rice, and distinguished members of this subcommittee, thank you for inviting me today. I am honored for the opportunity to testify on a critical national security issue facing our Nation.

Sixteen years after the September 11th attack, America still does not understand its enemy. The U.S. continues to fall victim to strategic surprise at the hands of Sunni jihadist groups. The resurgence of the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS) in Iraq and its expansion into Syria was clear by at least mid-2013 but the U.S. did not act until ISIS had seized Iraq’s second largest city, beheaded Americans, launched a genocide against an Iraqi minority, and launched a blitz offensive campaign that threatened the survival of Baghdad. The U.S. has intervened against ISIS, but is making the same mistake with al Qaeda, which is building armies in failed states while the world focuses on ISIS. America’s consistent inability to identify the threat as it emerges or to neutralize it before it does places Americans at risk and drives up the cost of protecting the homeland by conceding the strategic initiative to the enemy. This pattern of American behavior is the outcome of a fundamental failure to understand the nature of the jihadist movement and the requirements to defeat it.

Continue reading the prepared testimony (PDF).