Source: March 2

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the organization behind the attempted Christmas Day 2009 attack and last October’s cargo bomb plot, has repeatedly attempted to strike American interests. In testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee, Christopher Boucek warns that AQAP is now the greatest single terrorist threat to the United States—a greater danger even than al-Qaeda’s senior leadership.

U.S. Policy Recommendations:

• Increase economic and security assistance to Yemen: AQAP thrives on Yemen’s internal disarray and the government’s inability to control its own territory. The United States should increase aid to Yemen to help build state capacity and deny AQAP space to plot and plan attacks.


• Use caution when exercising force: To avoid antagonizing ordinary Yemenis, counterterrorism operations directed against AQAP should be proportionate, Yemeni-led, and minimize the risk of civilian casualties.


• Recognize the limits of hard power: In addition to exercising force, the United States must push Yemen to improve the government’s visibility and service delivery at the local level, thereby addressing some of the underlying grievances that helped give rise to AQAP in the first place.

“AQAP has emerged as the organization most likely to kill American nationals and to attack U.S. interests,” Boucek writes. “Very clearly Yemen’s problems are not staying in Yemen and AQAP poses a grave and growing threat to American domestic security.”