Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Threat Con 2025
cipherbrief

Welcome! Log in to stay connected and make the most of your experience.

Input clean

The Core of the Problem

The Somalia based terror group al-Shabaab has “diversified its economy” to ensure a constant income, from kidnapping for ransom and confiscating food and aid sent to rural populations, to forcing households to have expatriate family members send remittances from abroad to al-Shabaab’s coffers.  Some of the group’s most notable financial sources include the taxation of Somalia’s charcoal industry and currently the extortion of local farmers.

The terror group used its strong-arm tactics to extort around 30 percent of the charcoal trade while controlling the port city Kismayo from 2008 to 2012 and reaped the benefits of taxing charcoal transit routes and exports. Although an international coalition of forces have pushed al-Shabaab out of several Somali cities and ports, the group still retains a presence in approximately one-third of the country. .

Keep reading...Show less
Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.
Threat Con 2025

Related Articles

The Middle East is Reshuffling the Deck. Is the U.S. Ready to Play a New Hand?

The Middle East is Reshuffling the Deck. Is the U.S. Ready to Play a New Hand?

EXPERT INTERVIEW – The past year has brought a whirlwind of dramatic developments in the Middle East, reshaping long-held assumptions about the [...] More

Experts Warn of Insurgents' Paradise in West Africa

Experts Warn of Insurgents' Paradise in West Africa

CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING– A terrorist group with links to Al Qaeda now controls a swath of territory five times the size of Texas, threatens the [...] More

Can President Trump Get a "Big, Beautiful" Deal in the Middle East?

Can President Trump Get a "Big, Beautiful" Deal in the Middle East?

CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING – When Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump meet at the White House Monday, they will bring different ideas for resolving two [...] More

The U.S. Has 40,000 Troops in the Middle East

The U.S. Has 40,000 Troops in the Middle East

CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING -- Recent U.S. strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities propelled the 40,000 American forces in the region into the spotlight [...] More

How Things Could go from Worse to Devastating for Iran

How Things Could go from Worse to Devastating for Iran

CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING – Given the state of damage Iran has suffered since Israel launched a devastating round of airstrikes targeting nuclear and [...] More

Security will be a Critical Aspect of New AI Center

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — The recent signing of an agreement between the United Arab Emirates and the United States to create a large scale joint center [...] More