The FBI and the Department of State today welcomed 42 Kenyan police and intelligence officers to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, where they will spend the next 12 weeks undergoing counterterrorism training to prepare them for the establishment in Nairobi of the first Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) outside of the U.S.

Personnel drawn from Kenya’s law enforcement and national security agencies will learn about the FBI JTTF techniques, protocols, and tactics and will work in coordination with FBI personnel in Kenya. The attendees will be trained and equipped to handle sensitive counterterrorism intelligence shared with the Kenyan government.

A goal of the initiative, funded by the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism, is in line with U.S. efforts to enable foreign partners to successfully investigate and prosecute terrorists before they conduct attacks. An attack in 2019 by the al-Shabaab terrorist group on a Nairobi hotel that left more than 20 people dead, including one American, helped lead to the JTTF Kenya initiative.