Recent training—conducted at the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Roswell, New Mexico—included delegations from Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Angola, Botswana, and Mozambique. Delegates were police officers, prosecutors, and judges, and many had firsthand experience dealing with terrorism in their countries.

In July 2010, suicide bombers in Uganda’s capital city of Kampala carried out attacks on crowds watching a World Cup soccer match, and more than 70 people were killed. Susan Okalany, a member of the Uganda delegation at ILEA, was appointed lead prosecutor in the case after her colleague in that position was assassinated.

“Uganda is a young population—about 50 percent of Ugandans are below the age of 18,” said Okalany, who is now a judge. “While we have universal primary and secondary education, the rate of enrollment and retention in schools is not very high.” Without the proper programs for young people, she believes many could be indoctrinated and radicalized by extremist groups.  Other delegates shared similar concerns—as well as insights—about the threat from terrorism in their countries.

“We challenge them together,” Hernandez said. “We ask them to search for ideas, we compare them with ours, and then we find common ground. We ask each other: How can we work together? How can we be proactive to prevent acts of terrorism?”

A theme that emerged from the training was thinking “left of the boom.” The FBI, like many law enforcement agencies, has become expert at responding to the “right of the boom,” which is what happens immediately after a terrorist bomb explodes. “We have teams, we have specialists, and we react,” Hernandez said. “Unfortunately, we’ve learned that just reacting means you are already too late. Once the attack has happened, people have died.” The idea is to look left of the boom—a military term referring to the timeline before an explosion—and to trace the journey that individuals take from being average citizens to being violent extremists, and to find a way to interrupt that process.

“The criminal groups, they have relationships, they have contacts around the world. As police officers, as members of the law enforcement community, we ought to make even bigger contacts.”Frank Emeka, ILEA delegate, Nigeria Police Force. If the terrorists are using social media to radicalise youth, said Emeka, “we must match them skill for skill. We must begin to make counternarratives and counterradicalization messages. We must engage our people.” As for the ILEA concept of networking, delegates believe it is beneficial—and necessary.

He added that acts of terror transcend borders. “Every time there’s a terrorist attack in another country, it’s somebody’s daughter, son, brother, or mother who’s a victim. They are victims like the victims we had on September 11, 2001,” Hernandez said. “There’s really no difference. Terrorism is a transnational issue. Foreign fighters cross borders to reach a battlefield, and their ideology can cross the borders with them. The ILEA allows us to mirror that kind of transnational setting by bringing together law enforcement partners from different countries to fight the violent extremists that threaten us all. By training our partners,” he explained, “we are helping to protect America.”

The professional friendships established through ILEA are also invaluable. “What we are doing is building an international network to make our country safer and to make the world safer,” Hernandez said. “That network, that collaboration, is the ultimate ILEA effect.”