 According to US Army General Carter Ham, al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), and the Nigeria-based Boko Haram (BH) were as of June 2012 attempting to synchronize and coordinate their activities in terms of sharing funds, training, and explosives.Ham added that he believed that the collaboration presented a threat to both U.S. homeland security and the local authorities.However, according to counter-terrorism specialist Rick Nelson with the Washington-based Center for Strategic International Studies, there was little evidence that the three groups were targeting U.S. areas, as each was primarily interested in establishing fundamentalist administrations in their respective regions.