“The Terrorism Industry”: An Al-Qaeda Course in Security and Intelligence - Part Six

This is the sixth segment in the series “The Terrorism Industry” by Sheikh Abu Ubaydah Abdallah al-Adam, who was until his death a prominent leader of Al-Qaeda responsible for its intelligence and security operations. The series was published by the Al-Fajr Media Institution, which is responsible for disseminating the written, audio and visual materials of Al-Qaeda and its affiliates.

Continuation - Recruiting People to the Organization

The military training undergone by those who are recruited into the organization must be precisely tailored to their classification and the role that they are selected to perform. This is also the case in various intelligence agencies around the world, in which employees undergo lengthy, goal-oriented training.

The Fifth Stage: Continued Surveillance

By this stage, the comrade has already been selected, trained and prepared for jihad activities, and the group’s leadership trusts that he will join its operations. However, the comrade must be observed in order to make sure that he is indeed carrying out his role in a satisfactory manner. Several factors should be noted during this observation:

1. Emotional stressors that are liable to influence the comrade and cause him to act in a hasty and reckless manner, which could potentially harm the overall jihadist interest. For example, a comrade may rush to carry out a revenge attack after a member of the group is killed, thereby bringing himself to the attention of intelligence agencies.
2. Each and every member of the organization must be given the most updated security guidelines and should conduct themselves accordingly.
3. A comrade’s mistakes should be examined in order to be sure that he was placed in the appropriate job role; if it is determined that the job role is not suitable, he should be moved to a different role.
4. Checks should be frequently carried out to determine if a comrade working undercover has been discovered; if he has been discovered, the situation must be dealt with immediately and the comrade must be transferred to a visible job role.
5. If a comrade is found to be involved in activities unbefitting of jihad or the group, he must be dismissed. However, he should not be killed (which is what intelligence agencies do when they want to get rid of an agent), but rather relieved of his duties. Nevertheless, if a member of the organization is discovered to be an enemy spy then he will be dealt with in a different way.
6. The comrade should be encouraged as needed; if he makes a mistake his punishment should be proportionate.

1. Keep distance from anyone who was convicted of an improper act.