9 JIHAD INTERNET STRATEGIES TERRORISTS USE

       It is no secret that terrorist networks use the social media for a myriad of anti-Western intentions. The global Internet is now the meeting place for radical Islamists to hear a radical preacher or terrorist rave about the evil Satins in the West. Use of the world wide web makes it difficult for intelligence operatives to keep physical surveillance on them, for they operate apart, from afar, while sitting in front of a computer screen.
     Since the digital age began, counterintelligence (CI) operatives no longer tail the "bad guys" from their homes to a town square, pub, or cafe to photograph and record them together and to find out who their target's accomplices are while they discuss jihad strategies and attack plans. CI ground agents simply cannot keep tabs on a group of men becoming increasingly radicalized while they meet online, for their targets literally become "lost in Cyberspace." The world wide web is so vast that the bad guys can easily operate undetected and hide among over 1,770,000,000 websites.

And, the number of Cyber-hiding places is growing each second- click HERE to view the real-time growth of Internet websites...you won't believe it!

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     The Internet has replaced the "old-fashioned" terrorist method of physically meeting, face-to-face, to spread radical jihad's ideology, recruit new members, and formulate attack plans against Western targets. Now, radical Islam has Cyber communities and online meeting places with electronic networks for information-sharing and command and control. 
     Terrorist use the Internet for 9 major broad-spectrum applications:

1. Jihad recruitment with unlimited geographical limitations
2. Jihad radicalization
3. Jihad planning
4. Jihad training
5. Spreading propaganda
6. Steering visitors to moderate websites and forums, to entice them to visit more extremist sites with fanatic content
7. Mulling over and sharing operational and tactical information
8. Conducting reconnaissance and targeting
9. Befriending “marginal” people and enticing them into becoming more radicalized

          Roughly 90% of radical Islam's activities on the Internet is carried out through the social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, chat rooms, YouTube, Myspace, websites, forums, blogs, etc. Interestingly, Facebook pages laud known terrorists and radical clerics, such as Faisal Shahzad, who is  serving a life sentence for the Times Square bombing that failed; Omar Hammami (aka Abu Mansoor al-Amriki), who serves as operational commander for al-Shabaab in Somalia and who was ranked “Liked” by numerous people on his Facebook page; Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2009 and who had his own Facebook site with thousands of American teens following him....the list is quite lengthy!
     Anwar al-Awlaki played a significant role in the global al-Qaeda jihad. He was the "who's who" of jihad attackers against the West and his online social sites broadcast DVDs and taped sermons on jihad. Many of these sermons were found in the computers of jihadists, such as the US army officer responsible for the Fort Hood shootings, Major Nidal Hassan; the underpants bomber Abdulmuttallab; the Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad and the Boston Marathon bombers.



Robert Morton, Ed., Ed.S. is a member of the Association Of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO). He writes the online spy thriller "Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster in the Caribbean". The views expressed on this site do not represent those of any organization he is a member of. Contact him on the Secure Contact Form