The structure and leadership of al Shabaab are of paramount importance to understanding how this radical Islamist group operates in Somalia.

Al Qaeda has benefited from the collapse of the Yemeni state. Islamist militants have demonstrated the capacity to take and hold territory from state control. These territorial gains increase al Qaeda’s operating space in Yemen.

Recent attacks by al-Shabab in Uganda and the court hearing of an American charged with trying to join the jihad in Somalia are bad signs that a new transnational terrorist network is taking shape in East Africa, and President Obama has made the problem worse by ordering the killing of the man who could have helped disrupt and destroy the network.