Improving the U.S. Military's Adaptability Against the Salafist-Jihadi Threat: Counterterrorism and COIN, Death-Terror Management Theory, Leader Decapitation Effect on Terrorist Organizations

This excellent report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. This qualitative research case study attempted to address "How can the U.S. military degrade individual Salafist-jihadi groups without giving energy to the global Salafist-jihadi movement?" The secondary questions were: what gaps exist between the U.S. military's CT strategy and doctrine and the most current research and information, and why is the Salafist-jihadi movement gaining strength? To answer these questions, the study examined current U.S. military doctrine and strategies relating to combating the Salafist-jihadi threat and compared those documents to the most current academic research. After a comparison was made, the differences between the two were used to identify gaps between what the U.S. military believes, and what is actually true based on the research. The findings concluded that the U.S. military lacks a shared understanding of what terrorism is, how it differs at each level of war, what the center of gravity is, and how to counter it. Until a shared understanding is achieved, the U.S. military will continue to be slow to innovate and adapt against this particular threat.

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION * Background * Purpose * Statement of Problem * Significance of the Problem * Research Questions * Methodology * Assumptions * Limitations * Definitions of Key Terms * Summary * CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW * Introduction * A Description of the Salafist-jihadi Movement * Strengths of the Salafist Movement * Weaknesses of the Salafist-Jihadi Movement * Motivational Causes of Salafist-jihadi Organizations * The Awareness of Death-Terror Management Theory (TMT) * The Effect of Globalization on the Relative Deprivation Theory * Humiliation, Oppression, Occupation, and/or Injustice * A Center of Gravity Analysis-Salafist-jihadi Groups vs. the Movement * U.S. military CT/COIN Strategies and Doctrine * Summary * CHAPTER 3 - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY * Introduction * Qualitative Research * Qualitative Case Study Methodology * Data Collection * Data Analysis * Coding * Research Questions * Role of Researcher * Standards of Verification * Summary * CHAPTER 4 - FINDINGS * Introduction * Primary Research Question - How can the U.S. military degrade individual Salafist-jihadi groups without giving energy to the global Salafist-jihadi movement? * Research Question 2 - What gaps exist between the U.S. military's CT strategy and doctrine and the most current research and information? * Gap 1: Decapitating a terrorist leader will degrade the terrorist organization. Gap 2: The belief that the charismatic leader is the operational or strategic COG of the terrorist organization. Gap 3: Combating Violent Extremism with CT vs COIN doctrine * Research Question 3 - Why is the Salafist-jihadi movement gaining strength? * Summary * CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS * Primary Research Question - How can the U.S. military degrade individual Salafist-jihadi groups without giving energy to the global Salafist-jihadi movement? * Research Question 2 - What gaps exist between the U.S. military's CT strategy and doctrine and the most current research and information? * Research Question 3 - Why is the Salafist-jihadi movement gaining strength? * RECOMMENDATIONS * U.S. military doctrine: A Starting Point * Opposing Points of View * Summary * BIBLIOGRAPHY