Next generation of ideological security comes to Qassim

Fighting radical thought must begin in the community before matters end on the battlefield. Such is the idea behind the creation of the Intellectual Awareness Unit (IAU) at Qassim University, where youth are inoculated against extremism and encouraged to contribute to a broader societal movement to promote a culture of moderation in Saudi Arabia.
With Daesh now officially declared territorially defeated, urgency has increased to address why a limited number of Saudi nationals joined the terror group. It is abundantly clear that Saudi officials are invested in identifying the early stages of radicalization among nationals to cut off the recruitment of Saudis into extremist organizations, and entities such as the IAU are evidence of this commitment.
By way of a lecture series, workshops, training courses and public exhibitions, the unit is conducting public outreach tailored to the needs of Qassim’s population. Through the pioneering “Sawab” hotline, the unit answers callers’ pressing questions using factual information and scholarly refutation to degrade extremist thought. These one-on-one interactions further link the state to its citizens based on the premise that developing a firm sense of national belonging can disrupt the radicalization process.
Undoubtedly, the IAU’s mandate comes at an opportune time. Patterns of terror in the Kingdom have changed drastically over the past two decades, from periods of intense extremist activity in the early 2000s to today’s Saudi Arabia, which enjoys high levels of domestic security and unprecedented intelligence sharing with the US.
The establishment of the IAU is a furtherance of long-standing Saudi campaigns to prevent abnormal theological and social thought from morphing into violence. It builds upon a contemporary record of excellence in Saudi counter-extremism work, from the operation of the Mohammed bin Naif Counseling and Care Center to the establishment of Etidal, the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition and the Ideological Warfare Center, housed within the Ministry of Defense.
What differentiates the IAU is its localization of anti-extremism work in Qassim in recognition of the area’s complex social dynamics. As the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies’ Dr. Abdullah Al-Saud noted in his landmark 2019 study on Saudi foreign fighters who joined Daesh, Qassim had the highest ratio of recruits of any Saudi province.
To my fellow Americans monitoring how Saudi Arabia will confront the scourge of terrorism in the coming years, know that the Kingdom’s far-reaching Vision 2030 calls for a future Saudi Arabia with “Islam as its constitution and moderation as its method.”
Essential to realizing this vision are the youth, who will uphold values such as broad-mindedness and intellectual curiosity. Al-Saud’s research noted that 72 percent of Saudi foreign fighters were between the ages of 20 and 29 — a figure consistent with global trends on the fervor and vulnerability of radicalized youth. Resultantly, the IAU is working to fulfill Vision 2030’s affirmation of a moderate, cohesive nation by strengthening young Saudis’ sense of patriotism and dedication to serving the national interest in all domains.
It is easy for critics to paint the Kingdom as a country whose counter-terrorism efforts are meant for publicity, not prevention. It is much more rewarding to thoughtfully examine the ways in which the Saudi leadership has recognized local and regional imbalances and developed awareness programs to off-ramp individuals in critical need of intervention. While best practices are established in battling extremism at the national level, the IAU illustrates that Saudi responses to radicalization are maturing by becoming more localized and sensitive to each community’s challenges.

Madison Clough is a strategic communications professional residing in Riyadh. She holds a master’s degree in international security from George Mason University and formerly consulted as a monitoring and evaluation specialist on a countering violent extremism project funded by the US Department of Homeland Security.
Twitter: @madison_clough