Counterintelligence-Based Prevention Framework: An Analysis of Indonesian Pathways to AQAP Recruitment, 2020–2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70710/sitj.v3i3.106Keywords:
AQAP, Counterintelligence, Indonesian Foreign Fighters, Radicalization, Tradecraft, YamanAbstract
This article examines the pathways through which Indonesian nationals became connected to the recruitment ecosystem of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen during 2020–2024 and develops a counterintelligence-based prevention framework to mitigate such transnational mobilization. Using a qualitative instrumental case study design, the research draws on semi-structured interviews with eleven key informants, documentary analysis, court-related materials, open-source intelligence, and thematic coding supported by NVivo 12. The findings show that Indonesian involvement in the AQAP ecosystem cannot be explained solely by ideological indoctrination. Instead, it emerges from the interaction of personal significance crises, jihadist narratives, social-religious networks, and structural opportunities created by legal or semi-legal mobility channels. Operationally, the mobilization process reflects the adaptation of intelligence tradecraft by non-state actors, including administrative cover, compartmentation, social embedding, and selective communication. The article argues that prevention requires an integrated counterintelligence model that combines early detection, network disruption, administrative-diplomatic screening, and interagency data fusion. This framework highlights the need to move beyond post-incident law enforcement and toward preventive, accountable, and intelligence-led intervention across the radicalization–facilitation–mobility continuum.
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