Meet first Emirati who mastered 'terror security'

Maitha Qambar

It was a lecture held at her college that led Emirati student Maitha Qambar to search for truth and venture to explore topics that no Emirati had ever thought of exploring. The 24-year-old is the first Emirati woman to be conferred upon a master's degree in terrorism and homeland security policy at the American University in Washington DC.
While pursuing her graduation (2011-2015) in International Studies focusing on Global Security and Human Rights in the Middle East, Maitha happened to attend a talk wherein the speaker spoke about the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in the US.
"Who doesn't know about the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in the US? But although we have heard about the extreme interrogation techniques used there, none of us had any proof as to what was going on there. So when the speaker asked us who amongst us thought that Guantanamo Bay detention camp should be shut down, I was one of the very few people who raised their hands. This very talk about the prisoners raised some questions in my mind and led me to think on researching the topic further. The reports of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp were released two years later that showed over 30 prisoners had to go through extreme interrogations," Maitha told Khaleej Times.
This is when Maitha decided to pursue a master's programme in terrorism and homeland security policy. "I focused on intelligence analysis, methods of extreme interrogation and radicalisation/de-radicalisation. I think I should thank that speaker because it was his talk that led me to research on the subject and search for the truth."
"During my course of studies I had to analyse a lot of individuals, organisations and learn about intelligence community and I noticed a problem somewhere. We cannot treat radicals and terrorists the same way as we treat other criminals. There is a lot of difference between the two. Radicals/terrorists are driven by their political issues, and want to achieve change by using religion as a cover for their cause."
Know her research topics
Maitha got interested in this idea that how should we treat radicals/extremists. "I had studied about the whole process of radicalisation that can be caused by different mechanisms such as personal grievances or tragedy or could be repeatedly reading and watching about a certain kind of tragedy. The problem is that terrorists/extremists don't consider themselves as radicals, the feel they have a legitimate cause. Therefore my research focused on radicalisation, de-readicalisation and how do we rehabilitate terrorists or radicals-whether they are ideological radicals or having behaviour issues.
She was the only Arab in her class to pursue this course, she told Khaleej Times. There are Emiratis who have done courses in homeland security policies but no one ventured into studying terrorism and ways to counter it.
Maitha researched on questions like "how and what is the need to rehabilitate radicals" and "does extreme interrogation make them more radical or not?".
"Although we may have certain rehabilitation centres here, I think we need to focus on the importance of rehabilitation for radicals, extremists too. There may be programmes here but there is no rehab centre here for radicals, extremists and terrorists. I want to propagate soft policies like our amazing ruler, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid bin Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai."
Maitha believes that a rehabilitation centre needs to focus on three things - how to clear out the radical ideology; treating them psychologically and provide them opportunities to serve the community once they are out of the rehab centres. "We can first start with tests with small programmes based on the aforementioned points. The centre can focus on not only prisoners but people who have radicalised ideologically too," she said.
Message to others
"I see myself as a person teaching people about what really is radicalisation and terrorism. I encourage people to study this major as it talks about a lot of things such as protecting the borders, infrastructure, environment, medicine and health. Security is of paramount importance and I have learnt that homeland security is about three Ps - predict, protect and prevent. And that's the way forward I believe," she told Khaleej Times.
Her message to the people: "I didn't study seven and a half years to just sit on it but to bring something new and of great use for my country. I believe that each person has a message and we all need to bring something new to our country. This is the least I can do for my supportive government that has helped me get scholarship and study abroad. So I want to thank my country and its wise leadership for having faith in me and helping me achieve my goal. I see myself as a person who educates people, teach them something new and take my country forward."
saman@khaleejtimes.com