Building counter-terrorism investigative capabilities

Challenge

With suspected terrorist sleeper cells in the country the country experiencing war, the client – an army intelligence directorate – was challenged on multiple fronts. In response, the client sought to bolster its capabilities to identify, investigate and disrupt terrorist groups.

Approach

Siren designed and delivered a comprehensive capacity building initiative with the army around ethical and effective investigations. The programme covered key topics including:

• Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism: raising awareness of international agreements such as the Financial Action Task Force, and the necessary procedures for sharing intelligence between states, such as with the use of International Letter of Requests.

• Open-source intelligence: training officers to bolster their investigations by searching social media and triangulating sources. Our trainings went beyond preliminary search techniques, enabling officers to safely and ethically pursue criminal activity that may be linked to terrorism.

• Prison intelligence: dysfunction in the country's prison system means suspects for minor misdemeanours can be detained alongside terrorist suspects. This training equipped officers with an awareness of how to exploit intelligence opportunities in prison environments.

The training was culturally attuned and tailored to the client's needs, blending the latest insights from counter terrorism practice in the UK and Siren’s knowledge of the nuances of the national security landscape. It emphasised the importance of risk assessment frameworks, applying decision-making models, and adopting modes of working that protect human rights.

Outcomes

• The client reported that 97% of the trainings were useful for day-to-day work.

• 94% of participants said the trainings were contextualised to the realities of the operating environment.

• Participants reported that they subsequently deployed the new OSINT techniques in investigations.