BOKO HARAM—EMERGING THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON COUNTERTERRORISM AND INTELLIGENCE OF THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION NOVEMBER 30, 2011 Serial No. 112–60 Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 74–645 PDF WASHINGTON : 2012 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY PETER T. KING, New York, Chairman LAMAR SMITH, Texas BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California LORETTA SANCHEZ, California MIKE ROGERS, Alabama SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas HENRY CUELLAR, Texas GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York PAUL C. BROUN, Georgia LAURA RICHARDSON, California CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois TIM WALBERG, Michigan BRIAN HIGGINS, New York CHIP CRAVAACK, Minnesota JACKIE SPEIER, California JOE WALSH, Illinois CEDRIC L. RICHMOND, Louisiana PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania HANSEN CLARKE, Michigan BEN QUAYLE, Arizona WILLIAM R. KEATING, Massachusetts SCOTT RIGELL, Virginia KATHLEEN C. HOCHUL, New York BILLY LONG, Missouri JANICE HAHN, California JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas ROBERT L. TURNER, New York MICHAEL J. RUSSELL, Staff Director/Chief Counsel KERRY ANN WATKINS, Senior Policy Director MICHAEL S. TWINCHEK, Chief Clerk I. LANIER AVANT, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON COUNTERTERRORISM AND INTELLIGENCE PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania, Chairman PAUL C. BROUN, Georgia, Vice Chair JACKIE SPEIER, California CHIP CRAVAACK, Minnesota LORETTA SANCHEZ, California JOE WALSH, Illinois BRIAN HIGGINS, New York BEN QUAYLE, Arizona KATHLEEN C. HOCHUL, New York SCOTT RIGELL, Virginia JANICE HAHN, California BILLY LONG, Missouri BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi (Ex Officio) PETER T. KING, New York (Ex Officio) KEVIN GUNDERSEN, Staff Director ALAN CARROLL, Subcommittee Clerk STEPHEN VINA, Minority Subcommittee Director (II) C O N T E N T S Page STATEMENTS The Honorable Patrick Meehan, a Representative in Congress From the State of Pennsylvania, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence ........................................................................................................... 1 The Honorable Jackie Speier, a Representative in Congress From the State of California, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence .................................................................................................... 2 The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, a Representative in Congress From the State of Mississippi, and Ranking Member, Committee on Homeland Security ................................................................................................................. 4 WITNESSES Mr. J. Peter Pham, Director, Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, Atlantic Coun- cil of the United States: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 6 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 8 Ms. Lauren Ploch, Africa Analyst, Congressional Research Service: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 14 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 17 Mr. Ricardo Rene´ Lare´mont, Professor of Political Science and Sociology, Binghamton University, State University of New York: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 23 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 25 Ms. Jennifer G. Cooke, Director, Africa Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 28 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 29 (III) BOKO HARAM—EMERGING THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES Wednesday, November 30, 2011 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY, SUBCOMMITTEE ON COUNTERTERRORISM AND INTELLIGENCE, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:06 a.m., in Room 311, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Patrick Meehan [Chair- man of the subcommittee] presiding. Present: Representatives Meehan, Quayle, Speier, Hochul, and Thompson (ex officio). Mr. MEEHAN. The Committee on Homeland Security Sub- committee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence will come to order. The subcommittee is meeting today to hear the testimony regard- ing an emerging threat to the homeland from Boko Haram, a Nige- rian Islamist group. I would like to welcome everyone to today’s hearing. The hearing coincides with the release of the bipartisan subcommittee report* outlining the emerging threat to the U.S. homeland from Boko Haram. I would like to thank the Ranking Member for her willingness to work together in a bipartisan fash- ion to call attention to this issue. I believe we worked to create a document that will continue to contribute to the public conversation about Boko Haram, and will add a valuable perspective to the debate. In late August, a suicide bomber drove a VBIED, vehicle-borne IED into the United Nations headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria, kill- ing 23, and injuring over 80. A sect based in northern Nigeria, Boko Haram, claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack on the U.N. headquarters represented a marked shift by Boko Haram, highlighted by targeting its first non-Nigerian entity, and using a suicide bomber, which are hallmarks of al-Qaeda and its affiliates. It would appear to be, in hindsight, to be a bit of foreshadowing, one week before the U.N. attack, U.S. Army General Carter Ham, who is the commander of the African Command United States, stated publicly that Boko Haram had an intent to coordinate and synchronize their efforts with AQIM and Al-Shabaab. Based on the U.N. attacks, General Ham’s assessment seems to have been accu- rate. The U.S. intelligence community must not underestimate Boko Haram’s intent and capability to strike at U.S. interests, and most importantly, potentially the U.S. homeland. Its fast evolution * The document is available at www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CPRT-112HPRT71725/pdf/CPRT- 112HPRT71725.pdf. (1) 2 in targeting and tactics mirrors other al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, and it is worrisome. While I recognize, and this is important to say, while I recognize there is little evidence at this moment to suggest that Boko Haram is planning attacks against the homeland, lack of evidence does not mean it cannot happen. As our report makes clear, the U.S. intelligence community has very recently been wrong about al-Qaeda affiliates’ intent and their capability to strike the homeland with nearly deadly consequences. The most notable examples include AQAP and TTP, whose threats to attack the homeland were both assessed to be aspirational until they deployed suicide bombers to Detroit on Christmas day 2009, and Times Square in May 2010, and caught us entirely off guard. Due to the fast evolution of Boko Haram in the last year, the U.S. intelligence community must increase intelligence collection on Boko Haram and enhance cooperation with our Nigerian partners to build their counterterrorism and intelligence capacity. This sub- committee has held many hearings this year on multiple terrorist threats, including from AQAP in Yemen, the different groups oper- ating in Pakistan, including TTP, and Hezbollah in Latin America. One thing that I know I have taken away from these hearings and from the many classified briefings we regularly receive is that we underestimate emerging terrorist groups at our peril. I keep harking back to the language in the 9/11 report about the failure of imagination. I think one of the responsibilities of this committee is to be the imagination of Congress with respect to the challenges we face on the terrorism front. The case of the Iranian terrorist plot in the District of Columbia is a perfect example. Everyone had assessed they would never strike in the homeland unless the United States or Israel were at- tacked or had attacked their nuclear facilities. This has proven to be wrong. It is one example that points to the larger issue, which is we must remain vigilant. In the case of today’s hearing, we must remain vigilant in countering Boko Haram. I look forward to hear- ing from today’s witnesses. The Chairman now recognizes the Ranking Minority Member of the committee, the gentlewoman from California, Ms. Speier, for any statement she may have. Ms. SPEIER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding to- day’s hearing on the Nigerian terrorist organization, Boko Haram, and the threat the group may pose to the United States. I would also like to welcome our witnesses today, and look forward to gain- ing insights from each of you, and to learn more about how we can partner with the Nigerians to help combat terrorism. Boko Haram, a terrorist organization based in northern Nigeria, has been draw- ing increased attention by conducting