Its recent loss of Osama bin Laden’s son, Hamza, has not ended al Qaeda’s threat to the West. While the organization is weaker than in its 1998-2002 heyday, it remains a potent counterterrorism challenge.

For one, al Qaeda retains some capable leaders. Osama’s right-hand man, Ayman al Zawahiri, remains alive. Although not nearly as charismatic as bin Laden, or as ideologically instrumental to al Qaeda as Abu Bakr al Baghdadi was to the Islamic State, al Zawahiri’s survival plays to Salafi-jihadist narratives that God is patiently on their side. The al Qaeda of the present also benefits from a younger generation of leaders such as Arabian Peninsula affiliate leader Qasim al Raymi. Savvy to ideological competition with ISIS, al Raymi aims to regain influence without sacrificing, at least unnecessarily, fighters. His name is likely to gain more attention in the years ahead. Unless, that is, he eats a Hellfire missile.