Protracted insurgencies and the growing terrorist threat throughout Nigeria, Somalia, and Burkina Faso have transformed on-the-ground responses to violent extremism in the region. These governments have altered their responses to violent extremists and terrorism, integrating civilian-led, community-based security strategies into their national counterterrorism programs.

As this research report will show, civilian militias may initially promote security, but their activities frequently degrade into violence and the further destabilization of conflict zones, allowing violent extremists to reassert their influence among local populations and further expand their geographical operations.

The rapid adoption of state-of-the-art communication tools has been critical to the organization, expansion, and success of terrorist networks. Terrorists use modern communication technology in myriad ways, from fundraising, radicalization, and recruitment, to issuing threats, inciting violence, and planning attacks.