ISIS – Terrorist Group Profile and Homeland Security Policy

Abstract 

Primarily, the focus of this paper is on the terrorist group profile of ISIS and Homeland Security Policy. The research paper is divided into two parts. Part 1 will highlight the terrorist organization profile including its ideology, tactics, targeting, capability, overall goals, analysis of attacks and any statements or propaganda from the terrorist group. After comprehension of the group, part 2 of the paper will incorporate U.S. Homeland Security policies studied in the course to analyze ISIS and gauge if one of the policies is sufficient enough to deal with the threat. 

Introduction 

ISIS is an acronym for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a former name by which the terrorist group was known. Word has it that ISIS traces its origins to an American prison camp in Iraq called Camp Bucca. Investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reveal that 12 top leaders of ISIS served in Camp Bucca including Abu Bakr al Baghdadi who became the leader after its leaders at that time Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi were killed in a U.S. raid (Gerges, 2017). As it seems, the group of prisoners met in Bucca and developed political ideologies and strategies that would be the beginnings of today’s terrorist organization ISIS. It is worth noting that initially, the group stemmed from al-Qaeda and later branched out to be on its own. In 2013, led by Jabhat al-Nusra and al-Baghdadi, ISIS completely and clearly differentiated itself from al-Qaeda. 

The same year, ISIS absorbed an AQI militant group in Syria that consequently led to fighting between al-Nusra and the group. By February 2014 ISIS had renounced its ties to ISIS (Jasko et al, 2018). Independently, ISIS began to launch their own terror campaigns that led to the organization declaring itself the official government of some parts in Syria. Towns such as Mosul, Tikrit, and Al-Qaim among others were under the control of ISIS in 2014. In the same year a caliphate or rather an Islamic state was created, following the erosion of state borders. At this point, Al-Baghdadi became the leader of all Muslimas across the world and ISIS changed its name to Islamic State (Gerges, 2017). They terrorist group took a large part of Syria and Iraq before the United States stepped in and pushed them out. Currently, Mosul in Iraq is the stronghold of ISIS, where the U.S. has joined efforts with the Iraq government to completely push out ISIS out of Iraq. 

Part 1 

Ideology 

The ideology of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is primarily based on Islamic faith particularly the doctrines of Wahhabism, Salafi-Jihadism, and Salafism. The declaration of an Islamic State (caliphate) in Iraq and Syria in June 2014 stems from the universal allegiance of all Muslims across the world to create a caliphate as a religious obligation (Israeli, 2017). ISIS does not heed to the concept of nation state. According to the terrorist group nationalism along with democracy and secularism is regarded as idolatry (Jasko et al, 2018). ISIS views state and religion as inexorably bound together, to the extent that governance and political decisions are based on Sharia law. 

In its establishment of the caliphate, ISIS focusses on the use of tafkir (excommunication). Regarding excommunication, ISIS holds a very stringent view and uses it far more than other terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda. ISIS ideology holds that Muslims must be cleansed from within and those that rebel are declared apostates and put to death. Jasko et al, (2018) reveals that according to Islamiyah Tafkir of 2016, any Muslim and government that embraces democracy and Secularism or do not follow the Sharia are deemed apostate and therefore deserve excommunication. 

Targeting 

The main target of ISIS is any western power that seeks to threaten or undermine their agenda of uniting Muslims across the world as one caliphate. They target all allies of the United States as well as European Powers. Clearly, ISIS has expanded its theatre of operations beyond the Middle East because the terrorist organization has targeted and succeeded in attacking countries such as France. In the aftermath of the Paris attacks of November 13, it was argued that the goal of ISIS was to destroy components of the western culture such as freedom and democracy (Boukala, 2019). ISIS also targets others that are not believers of the Islamic religion because they consider them enemies of faith. Therefore western powers such as France and the U.S. that came to the aid of Iraq and Syria are targets of ISIS. The terrorist organization seeks to take over Syria and Iraq for strategic reasons of forming a caliphate as well as financial reasons. ISIS targets oil fields in Syria and Iraq to generate money for the organization. Young children and Islamic followers are also targeted to persuade them into joining the fight. 

Tactics 

Although Iraq forces, in collaboration with the United States triumphed over ISIS caliphate in 2017, it took them three years to significantly drive the terrorist group out of Syria and Iraq. This is due to the group’s non-traditional tactics in fights and recruitment. ISIS does not use direct confrontation in its fights. Instead ISIS applies asymmetrical ways whose procedures are based on the psychological approach of terrorism (Roach & Walker, 2019). One of the tactics used is taking control of homes of civilians and gathering occupants in the ground or basement floor. ISIS position themselves at the upper part of the floor where they would target security forces. Return fires from security would eventually cause the house to fall resulting in the loss of life and damage of property. This tactic was commonly used in Mosul. 

Another tactic commonly used by ISIS is suicide-bombing. ISIS once exploded a bomb near a chlorine chemical plant in Iraq (Quillen, 2016). The suicide-bombing caused the Iraqi soldiers to inhale the chlorine smoke thinking that it was their rivals using chemical weapons against them. The use of tunnels was also another tactic against the rivals of ISIS. The use of tunnels was mostly in Fallujah and Mosul. The main aim for the use of tunnels was to trap national forces and mark losses in the ranks of Special Forces. Research reveals that when the city of Mosul was liberated in July 2017, it was realized that the ISIS dug tunnels between streets and houses (Gulmohamad, 2016). Tunnel acted as a means of movement without being seen as well as to secure the speed of escape of ISIS to a new destination. 

The use of social media also served as a tactic in the overall strategy of ISIS. The group fabricates fake messages as a means of informational warfare (Szpunar, 2018). In addition, ISIS publishes fictional images on social media platforms. This tactic is meant to take credit for any terror incident that has occurred regardless of whether it was something they took part in or a random occurrence. Even if the media afterwards claims that ISIS has nothing to do with it, they do not care. All they want is for the mention of their names the first time to reveal to their rivals that they are capable of attacking beyond the Syrian and Iraqi borders. Notably, ISIS has used different digital channels to not only engage its supporters but also communicate its ideology. Furthermore, media are a primary source where power is determined since they have the widespread capability of shaping public opinion (Ozeren, Hekim, Elmas & Canbegi, 2018). The official media of ISIS is Al-Hayat Media through which both its members and adversaries are fed with visual and textual information. Violent videos of mass killings, executions, and torture have been used as tactics to instill fear and provoke adversaries of ISIS. 

Capability 

Since its development, the capability of ISIS has grown over the years. Compared to other terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda, ISIS is one of the richest terrorist organizations in the world. According to the United States Central Command (Centcom), that is responsible for the US forces in the Middle East, ISIS has remained cohesive eve after the death of their leader Abu-Bakar Baghdadi in October 2019. Its control and command structure, urban clandestine network, and insurgent presence in rural Syria is said not to have been affected by the death of its leader. After the death of their leader, ISIS appointed Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi as the replacement. For quite some time, ISIS has been underground and has continuously honed its capabilities. 

Just like any other organization, a terror group needs capital to survive. Money is needed to pay salaries for activists, buy weapons for massive destruction and killing, and provide transportation among other activities of the terror group. Due to the nature of the organization, ISIS cannot rely on loans or issuance of bonds to finance its activities. Instead, the organization has shifted its financial efforts to other activities that can generate income to fund its operations as of 2015, ISIS was listed the richest terror organization with an annual turnover of approximately $2 billion. The means of funding range from sales in oil trade, robberies of banks, protection from taxes, and ransom looting. 

In terms of human resource capabilities, ISIS has a high number of fighters. According to a CIA report in 2015, ISIS has had a constant number of fighters ranging from 20,000 to 30,000, with a peak of 33, 000 (Kumar, 2015). The numbers have, however, decreased following attacks from U.S. forces. At the moment, fighters in Iraq and ISIS have decreased to between 19,000 and 25,000. Notably, as the number decreases in Iraq and Syria, it has steadily risen in Libya. There are approximately 5000 fighters in Libya (Dalton, 2017). The decreased number of ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria is attributed to a combination of factors such as battlefield deaths, coalition of airstrikes, difficulties faced by foreigners travelling to Syria, and recruitment shortfalls. Furthermore, it is getting hard for foreigner fighters to get into Syria and therefore be diverting to Libya. 

It is also worth noting that ISIS has considerable quantities of weapons and equipment. ISIS has light arms and a variety of rockets both standard and locally-produced. Other ammunitions include mortars, anti-tank missiles, launchers and anti-aircraft weapons (Taheran, 2016). During the occupation of Mosul, ISIS also captured vehicles termed Humvees and Toyotas that have been mounted with machine guns (Kumar, 2015). According to media reports, ISIS also has tanks, artillery, and anti-aircraft missiles it uses to launch its attacks. ISIS also has mustard gas and other types of lethal gases it uses against the Iraqi and Syria forces. 

Overall Goals 

The overall goal of ISIS is to establish a caliphate or rather an Islamic State headed by the leader of the terrorist group organization. In June 29, 2014, the former and late leader of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared himself the Caliph of the Islamic State (Gerges, 2017). The intentions and goals of ISIS are to take over Iraq and Syria and make them the headquarters of the organization. ISIS then hopes to have all Muslims as the Caliph of the Islamic faith and obey him. 

Other goals of the terrorist organization includes seeking revenge for the war and destruction particularly for the Western powers. This is because the United States and European super powers such as France have deployed their military forces in Iraq and Syria in a bid to counter the plans and activities of the terror organization (Muro, 2016). ISIS plans to take revenge not only on the military but also innocent citizens of the United States and Europe. ISIS is also in search of religious legitimacy from Islamic leaders. The terrorist organization has been attacked by Islam religious authorities particularly for excommunication of Muslims that do not adhere to the stringent rules of caliphate. 

Analysis of Attacks 

Over the years, ISIS has been involved in various attacks across the world. One of the deadliest attacks by ISIS was the Paris 2015 terror attacks. The attack led to the death of 129 people and injured approximately 350 others (Muro, 2016). France has been more active in Syria compared to other European member state. Thus the ISIS response to the intervention by France was the tit for tat. With the Paris attacks, ISIS engaged in a centrally planned campaign of terrorism inflicting huge casualties in a distant country. 

Most recently, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS, opened a fire at a ceremony in Kabul on the 6 th of March 2020. Out of the attack at least 32 people have been pronounced dead and 81 others wounded ("ISIS Attacks Gathering In Afghanistan, Killing At Least 32", 2020). According to a government spokesmen, the death toll could rise because those wounded are in critical conditions. Through their telegram channel, ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks. This is the first major attack by ISIS after the United States reached an agreement to withdraw its military troops from Iraq and Syria. 

ISIS has continually evolved based on the country they intend to attack as well as the resources available for them to use. They are continually using their tactics to cause attacks even after reaching an agreement with the U.S. to back off from the war. Through the use of propaganda and the internet, they are able to reach a large audience to achieve their goals. 

Statements and Propaganda 

Through the release of statements and the use of propaganda, ISIS has achieved success in spreading its messages to a large extent. By releasing videos of happy citizens of the Islam caliphate and soldiers that are heavily armed, ISIS give the impression to potential recruits that they will be serving a good cause. Through social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Tumblr, ISIS has tremendously achieved (Muro, 2016). There are also amateur videos that are uploaded by its soldiers and then released for the global audience. The media global propaganda is aimed at provoking the U.S. and its allies as well as recruiting from the Middle East. For a long time the propaganda has worked because prior to the U.S. attacks, ISIS had approximately 30,000 fighters most of whom were foreigners from the Middle East. 

The full extent of ISIS propaganda and ambitions can be seen through the Al-Hayat Media Center. The channel mainly addresses non-Arabic speakers particularly the young ones with the intention of luring them to join the movement (Ali, 2015). Al-Hayat Media makes its programs in several languages among them German, English, and French. The English version mainly discusses politics, jihad, making of bombs, and Islam faith. Notably, ISIS does not have a centralized plan or a single person that is in charge of the Islamic media that is used to spread propaganda (Muro, 2016). Instead, ISIS social media is networked reflecting how ISIS nature of space has been networked. 

Beheading videos remain some of the most viewed and shared propaganda across social media. Often the video shows infidels in either the deserts of Syria and Iraq with a knife on their throat. One of the most notorious beheading video was in 2020 when ISIS released their first video. James Foley, an American journalist was kidnapped and beheaded by the terrorist organization in 2012 (Baele, Boyd, & Coan, 2019). The beheading was so shocking that even other terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda termed the action as violent. The group rationale for use of such propaganda is that it plays a role in their psychological tactics of scaring the people. Besides beheading, ISIS has also used other propaganda such as burning of innocent people to death. ISIS therefore appears to use such propaganda to maximize fear among people across the globe. 

Part 2

 Policy 

ISIS and other terrorist groups pose a threat to world security. As such it is important for national governments to develop and implement policies to counter these challenges. Since the 9/11 attacks, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has made significant efforts in a bid to improve the security of the country as well as protect it from terror attacks. Furthermore, with the evolution of technology, today’s threat to security does not require mere imposing of limited objectives to disrupt, limit, or contain ISIS. Cyber-attacks have become the new war front of dealing with war on terrorism. This is because based on the tactics and propaganda used by ISIS, the cyber world has become an imperative platform for them to organize attacks, recruit fighters, lure young people into joining the group and spread propaganda. 

Several actions through the Safeguarding and Securing Cyberspace policy by the Homeland Security have been put in place to secure cyberspaces, analyze, and reduce future threats. They include Analysis and Reduction Cyber Threats and Vulnerabilities, Distribution of warnings, Coordination of responses to Cyber Incidents, Ensuring Safety of Cyber Systems and engaging the public ("Safeguarding and Securing Cyberspace | CISA", 2020). Based on this policy the Department of Homeland Security has been involved in numerous actions to protect the country from threats posed by terrorist organizations such as ISIS. 

The United States Department of Homeland Security works to reduce both organizational and systemic vulnerabilities across its own networks as well as other nationally critical systems. Through technical capabilities, cybersecurity information and other forms of assistance, DHS empowers its stakeholders to better manage the cyber space. Furthermore, one of the goals of DHS is to reduce vulnerabilities within and beyond the federal agencies to ensure that an adequate level of cybersecurity has been achieved ("Safeguarding and Securing Cyberspace | CISA", 2020). Initially developed in 2004, the Analyzing and Reducing Cyber Threats and Vulnerabilities program helps malicious actors from such terrorist organizations as ISIS from accessing relevant information on the federal cyber space. In this program is an automated system called EINSTEIN 2 that monitors the federal’s government cyber system from attacks and internet traffic that is malicious in nature ("Safeguarding and Securing Cyberspace | CISA", 2020). In addition is EINSTEIN 3 that enables DHS to detect any form of malicious activity and attempted intrusions from such terrorist organizations as ISIS. 

Developed by the DHS, the National Cybersecurity Protection System (NCPS) is an integration of systems that delivers numerous capabilities including the detection of intrusion, prevention of intrusion, and malicious attacks. The NCPS fulfills a key requirement of the National Cybersecurity Protection Plan that has been put in place by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Operationally, NCPS falls under the EINSTEIN set of capabilities one of the policies that has been established by the DHS to aid in its efforts against attacks ("Safeguarding and Securing Cyberspace | CISA", 2020). Through NCPS, the DHS has a technological foundation that enables the securing of the country’s information against advanced cyber threats. 

Notably, the U.S. DHS has put in place a National Cybersecurity Communications Integration Center to serve as the hart of all cyber response efforts. This Privacy Impact Assessment provides an update on the detection capabilities of the NCPS and provides a detailed analysis of the collection of information that could pose a threat to the security of the country ("Safeguarding and Securing Cyberspace | CISA", 2020). DHS has also worked with private sectors and other agencies across the country to mitigate the risks posed by ISIS in national security. Also, the U.S. DHS works closely with digital system owners and controllers to ensure that they put in place measures that can protect the country against cyber risk posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. DHS is also working on clear information dissemination that will ensure both the operators and owners of key infrastructures in the region are not left behind on issues pertaining security against terror groups such as ISIS. 

In case of the occurrence of cyber incidents, the Department of Homeland Security DHS is responsible for the provision of assistance, to entities that have been affected. Usually the DHS play the role of analysis of the potential impact across critical infrastructure and investigates those that are responsible. In the case of ISIS, the organization has the capability of attacking the cyber space of the federal government as well as that of the DHS in a bid to organize and implement actual attacks in the United States or even its allies. Through the Coordination Response to Cyber Incidents, the DHS will work with multiple agents to provide protection against the potential threats ("Safeguarding and Securing Cyberspace | CISA", 2020). DHS works in conjunction and collaboration of law enforcement partners to ensure that they offer significant responses against cyber-attacks. The collaboration memorandum was signed by the DHS to enhance and align the capabilities of the country against cyber threats. Also, the DHS propelled the development of the National Cyber Incident Response Plan to enable multiple agencies to work together against terrorist attacks from groups such as ISIS. 

DHS has two initiatives to in Ensuring Safety of Cyber Systems. One is the Cybersecurity Workforce initiative that enabled DHS to reduce its cyber staff in order to attract top talent that could be helpful in countering of terrorism across the country. The other initiative is the Technological Development and Deployment that has been a guideline in research and development in cybersecurity ("Safeguarding and Securing Cyberspace | CISA", 2020). Through grant programs by the federal government, DHS is capable of conducting research on new developments about tools, tactics, and other ways through which ISIS is planning its attacks. Besides being up to date with technological sites and social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, will enable DHS to be aware of the current issues in terrorism including attacks by ISIS. 

DHS has also combined efforts with the Department Office for bombing Prevention, through to reduce the threats of explosive attacks against critical infrastructure. In 9/11 the United States suffered a great loss of infrastructure. Even though the attacks were not particularly of bombs, it is worth noting that ISIS uses suicide-bombings as one of its tactics. Therefore, it has equal potential of posing a threat to the citizens of the United States. In that regard, the DHS ha recognized Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDS) as a significant and enduring threat to the safety of Americans ("Safeguarding and Securing Cyberspace | CISA", 2020). Through close collaboration with the Federal agencies, state and local governments, DHS has conducted assessments nationally through which it has tested bomb squads and assessed what they are capable of destroying. In addition, the department has crated awareness through its social media platforms and official website and trained both public and private entities on how to recognize and monitor suspicious behavior of bomb attacks from terrorism groups such as ISIS. 

Another policy that has been used by DHS is the engagement of the public to boost security in the country’s cyber space. One of the ways it has made progress is through the DHS Stop. Think. Connect Campaign ("Safeguarding and Securing Cyberspace | CISA", 2020). Through the initiative, DHS has been able to increase public understanding of cyber threats. In addition, the campaign has helped the public increase their vigilance when it comes to cyber security. In the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, DHS promotes cybersecurity awareness campaign in the community. 

The United States Department Homeland Security has also partnered with the federal government across the public and private sectors to better mitigate threats posed by terrorist groups such as ISIS. The collaboration and combination of efforts has provided a string foundation through which communities re protected from terrorist and their destructive activities. While threats posed by ISIS persist the Department of Homeland Security is stronger than it was at the time of the 9/11 attacks. For the last couple of years, DHS has evolved to strengthen the enterprise with such policies to counter the challenges of threats posed by ISIS (Legrand, 2017). It is worth noting that the efforts of DHS are far beyond the organization itself. Instead, DHS collaborates with local leaders, states, and law enforcement agencies to mitigate threats of terror attacks. 

In conclusion, I have found DHS’ Safeguarding and Securing Cyberspace policy sufficient enough to counter potential cyber threats and attacks from terror organization groups such as ISIS. At its core, the Safeguarding and Securing Cyberspace policy is divided into five main categories which include Public Engagement, Ensuring Safety of Cyber Systems, Coordinating Response to Cyber Incidents, Distributing Threat Warnings, and Analyzing and Reducing Cyber Threats and Vulnerabilities. Besides addressing majority of the threats posed by ISIS, the policy also leaves room for growth particularly the tapping and maintenance of top talent from the country’s universities. The leveraging of knowledge to universities and the incorporation of research will ensure that DHS does not run out of ways to counter the constantly changing attacks from ISIS. Also, based on the fact that DHS is collaborating with multiple agents across the U.S. implies that the overall country will take seriously threats posed by ISIS and work in unison to protect themselves, their cyberspace and infrastructure. 

ISIS operations have been both military and in the political spheres. The goal is to achieve its objective of forming an Islamic Caliphate. As highlighted in the profile of ISIS, its strategy is mainly using psychological means to pose threats through media (Kumar, 2015). Therefore it is necessary to formulate policies that not only cover the physical realm of ISIS buts also the cyberspace. As demonstrated by the DHS cybersecurity policy through the five initiative the United States will be able to sufficiently protect itself from ISIS. Through the policy, the United States does not seek to just restore the integrity of Iraq and Syria, but also preserve its own security and that of its citizens, and infrastructure. The policy has robust capabilities because it addresses the core of cyber-attacks which is the cyberspace. This more robust policy is what is required to deal with ISIS and turn the tide against the terror organization group. 

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