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An alliance against terrorism
By Malcolm W. Nance

ISIS is facing certain defeat in Iraq and Syria. However, its demise seems to be unleashing a new phase in the global terror war that may make it far more lethal and powerful. Its bombing campaign during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan killed more than 800 people. ISIS is quickly devolving from a physical army into what FBI Director James B. Comey calls a “terrorist diaspora.’’ Only a truly global task force can combat the challenges terrorism presents. It is time for an antiterrorism variant of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Like NATO, it would be a multilateral alliance specifically focused on collecting antiterrorism intelligence, detecting and facilitating disruption of terrorist plots, and attacking cyber-based networks.

The attacks over the weekend are the most recent blow from professional suicide cells of the Islamic State. However, the next iteration of ISIS and Al Qaeda warriors will exist in a hybrid world of very small, covert terror cells and lone-wolf jihadis that are led through a cyberspace-based command network. This “ghost caliphate’’ will be even harder to root out. Terrorist leaders are planning to find new shadows between the lines of political and military control to consolidate and form a new global terror nucleus.

The world needs to establish a Global Alliance of Terrorism Task Organizations, or GATTO, headquartered in Europe. GATTO would comprise law enforcement, intelligence, and legal staff from all member states. It would be a one-stop clearinghouse for intelligence on terrorists worldwide. Information would be shared widely, freely, and without restriction to any nation that seeks to help. GATTO would be able to overcome the elastic and adaptive nature of self-radicalized individuals or groups. In countries with highly complex law enforcement approaches and disparate legal agencies, such as Belgium, GATTO could give access to the world’s collective intelligence in order to quickly disrupt any potential plot. This means suspected terrorists would no longer be able to hide within refugee streams, be overlooked by routine police checks, buy illicit weapons in another country, or be set free by uninformed local police. Once on the GATTO grid, everyone would be informed of suspects.

GATTO would also be the central clearinghouse of terrorist biographical and biometric databases and could provide border and immigrant intelligence data. GATTO would give even the smallest country with little to no intelligence capacity the same level of information as the largest in the alliance.

There is presently no multilateral partnership that harnesses the energy of the world’s anti- and counterterror agencies into an effective nexus that can facilitate both international and local counteraction. Interpol is far too small to do the job.

Te United States should support the establishment of GATTO and lead the world in organizing an international alliance to beat Al Qaeda, ISIS, and their virtual follow-ons at their own game. The globalization of antiterrorism could bring the synergy we need to stop terror plots before they strike. GATTO would make terrorists understand that they can no longer dance along the seams of nations’ intelligence limits to plot chaos. Otherwise, we will spend billions responding to attacks that could be avoided through an international antiterrorism organization designed to protect us all.

Malcolm W. Nance is executive director of the Terror Asymmetric Project on Strategy, Tactics, and Radical Ideologies and author of “Defeating ISIS: Who They Are, How They Fight, What They Believe.’’