The Web may also play a role in the experiences of many would-be and actual terrorists, just as it does in the lives of so many people. The interactivity of chat rooms, blogs, social networking sites, message boards, video hosting sites, and e-mail blurs the lines between readership and authorship that previous generations of terrorists and sympathizers encountered with pamphlets, newspapers, and newsletters.101 This blurring possibly encourages people who interact in such
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Release, “North Carolina Man Pleads Guilty to Terrorism Charge,” June 7, 2011, http://www.fbi.gov/charlotte/press-releases/2011/north-carolina-man-pleads-guilty-to-terrorism-charge; DOJ Press Release, “Raleigh-Area Man Pleads Guilty to Terrorism Charges,” February 9, 2011, http://www.fbi.gov/charlotte/press-releases/2011/ce020911.htm.
96 Andrea Elliott, June 22, 2010.
97 United States v. Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax and Abdiweli Yassin Isse, Criminal Complaint, U.S. District Court State and District of Minnesota, October 8, 2009, http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/us/
20091124_TERROR_DOCS/faarax.pdf; Dina Temple-Raston, “Jihadi Cool: Terrorist Recruiters’ Latest Weapon,”
National Public Radio, March 26, 2010, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125186382&ft=1&f=
1001.
98 Shaiq Hussain and Brigid Schulte, “5 N.Va. Men Convicted on Terrorism Charges in Pakistan, Given 10 Years in Prison,” The Washington Post, June 25, 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/12/10/
ST2009121002234.html?sid=ST2009121002234.
99 Mary Beth Sheridan and Spencer S. Hsu, “Arrests Suggest U.S. Muslims, Like Those in Europe, Can Be Radicalized Abroad,” The Washington Post, December 12, 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/
11/AR2009121104404.html
100 Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, The Netherlands, Violent Jihad in the Netherlands: Current Trends in the Islamist Terrorist Threat, The Hague, March 2006, p. 8, http://www.fas.org/irp/world/netherlands/violent.pdf.
101 Maura Conway, “Terrorism and Mass Communication: Nitro to the Net,” The World Today, vol. 60, no. 8/9 (Aug/Sep 2004), pp. 19-22, http://doras.dcu.ie/513/1/nitro_to_net_2004.pdf.
forums to more easily see themselves as part of broader jihadist movements and not just casual readers or online spectators. They may eventually engage in more substantive activity—actual propagandizing, financial support, or joining a terrorist network.102
The Web’s impact on individual would-be jihadists likely varies. In some cases accessing and engaging in online jihadist rhetoric possibly prods an individual toward violence. A study of 18,130 entries in 2,112 online discussions from more than 15 Arabic-language jihadist forums revealed that “[o]ne fifth of all discussions included an explicit call for more terrorist attacks....
Overall, two thirds of all discussions contain[ed] some form of call for or encouragement of terrorist attacks.”103 One author asserts that Internet activity has been central in the development of a “self-starter” phenomenon104 and offers would-be violent jihadists what has been described as a “de-formalized” radicalization experience.105 “Self-starters” are groups that lack ties to major international terrorist networks and do not receive orders from such organizations.106 However, instances of solely virtual radicalization without face-to-face interaction seem to be rare.107 Most radicalization apparently requires experience with real-world social networks.108
In other instances, terrorist “wannabes” may see online activity as a suitable substitute for direct violence and face-to-face contact with hardcore terrorists.109 Simply, individuals interested in violent jihad no longer have to physically travel to formal terrorist camps for indoctrination and rudimentary training. One author has also indicated that activity in the virtual realm may even play a much more profound, “cathartic” role, “allow[ing] aspiring jihadists to be part of the broader global jihad but crucially without engaging in direct violence.”110 In essence, online activity may channel individuals away from the violent expression of their radical beliefs by allowing them to air their grievances. While such activity may be seen in terrorist circles as an increasingly legitimate option—instead of violent jihad—it does not come without repercussions
102 Gilbert Ramsay, “Relocating the Virtual War,” Defence Against Terrorism Review, vol. 2, no. 1 (Spring 2009), p.
34, http://www.tmmm.tsk.tr/publications/datr3/03_Gilbert%20Ramsay.pdf.
103 Edna Erez, Gabriel Weimann, and A. Aaron Weisburd, “Jihad, Crime, and the Internet: Content Analysis of Jihadist Forum Discussions,” October 31, 2011, Report submitted to the National Institute of Justice in fulfillment of
requirements for Award Number 2006-IJ-CX-0038, pp. i, vii, x.
104 Kirby “The London Bombers.”, p. 416.
105 Ibid, p. 425.
106 Ibid, p. 415.
107 One terrorism expert has written: “Although the Internet clearly contributes to radicalization, and possibly to recruitment to jihadist terrorism, it has not yet produced the army of action-oriented acolytes sought by al Qaeda’s leaders.” Brian Michael Jenkins, Stray Dogs and Virtual Armies Radicalization and Recruitment to Jihadist Terrorism in the United States Since 9/11 (Santa Monica, CA: The RAND Corporation, 2011), p. 17.
108 Tim Stevens, “Regulating the ‘Dark Web:’ How a Two-Fold Approach Can Tackle Peer-to-Peer Radicalisation,”
The RUSI Journal, vol. 154, no. 2 (April 2009), p. 29. For an example of one terrorist’s extensive online radicalization experiences, see Majority and Minority Staff Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Zachary Chesser: A Case Study in Online Islamist Radicalization and Its Meaning for the Threat of Homegrown Terrorism, February 2012.
109 In December 2011 congressional testimony, Brian Michael Jenkins stated that online activity offers would-be jihadists “the means of vicariously participating in the jihadist struggle without incurring personal risks.” He described such activity as akin to “a kind of psychologically satisfying video game.” See Chris Lefkow, “Al-Qaeda Minting Few Militants Online: US Experts,” AFP December 7, 2011, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/
ALeqM5gC5qYifcavSLq1Jhl3dyxnGAdmgw?docId=CNG.afdd07c7dff397072b27a36860c352ca.531.
110 Akil N. Awan, “The Virtual Jihad: An Increasingly Legitimate Form of Warfare,” CTC Sentinel, vol. 3, no. 5 (May 2010), p. 11, http://www.ctc.usma.edu/sentinel/CTCSentinel-Vol3Iss5.pdf. Hereinafter: Awan, “The Virtual Jihad.”
for online supporters of terrorism. Individuals absorbed in such activities may run afoul of law enforcement for materially aiding terrorist organizations.111
Regardless of whether jihadist online activity drives individuals to violence, the Internet arguably serves to spur radicalization in three ways. First, it allows jihadists to augment their messages with suggestive audio and video. Second, it makes it easier for would-be jihadists to find and interact with like-minded people around the world. Finally, the Internet “normal[izes] behaviors considered unacceptable or inappropriate in real-world environments.”112 Terrorists publish rhetoric online that displaces culpability for their violent actions, which they commonly describe as inevitable responses when faced with overpowering enemies such as the West.113
Radicalizing material is readily accessible online, as are virtual communities in which one can discuss violent jihad. Since 2005, video sharing websites have broadened the availability of jihadi video material. All sorts of other texts and graphic images supporting violent jihad exist on the Web, as does a great volume of tradecraft, such as bomb-making guides.
Social networking, now inherently part of the Internet, is likely a tool that is used in the development of contacts among radicalized individuals and recruitment into violent jihadist groups. Before he died, Anwar al-Awlaki circulated jihadist lectures online and managed his own popular Facebook page and blog.114 The five Virginia men convicted on June 24, 2010, in
Pakistan on terrorism charges allegedly contacted an Al Qaeda operative via social networking websites, according to press coverage of their trial in the city of Sarghoda.115
Another case that highlights Internet-related issues involves Tarek Mehanna. Mehanna, a
pharmacist living with his parents in Sudbury, a wealthy Boston suburb, was arrested on terrorism charges in October 2009.116 Among other alleged activities, Mehanna and co-conspirators
translated from Arabic to English documents advocating terrorism and posted them on jihadist websites.117 They viewed themselves as the “media wing” for Al Qaeda in Iraq. In the eyes of some terrorism experts, the Mehanna case highlights the shift away from core members of Al Qaeda toward Internet-inspired, homegrown radicalization and self-starting terrorists. The Mehanna case emphasizes how recruiters from foreign terrorist organizations no longer seem necessary to shepherd radicalized individuals into terrorist training abroad. (Mehanna, himself,
111 Awan, “The Virtual Jihad,” p. 12.
112 Gabriel Weimann, Terror on the Internet: The New Arena, the New Challenge (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2006), p. 116. Hereinafter: Weimann, Terror on the Internet; Awan, “The Virtual Jihad,” p.
12.
113 Ibid.
114 NEFA Foundation, “Anwar al Awlaki: Pro Al-Qaida Ideologue with Influence in the West,” February 5, 2009, http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/nefabackgrounder_alawlaki.pdf.
115 Brigid Schulte, “5 Va. Men Facing Terrorism Charges in Pakistan Write of ‘Noble’ Motivation,” The Washington Post, May 16, 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/15/AR2010051503548.html
116 Denise Lavoie, “Mass. Terror Suspect Taught Kids at Muslim School,” Guardian.co.uk, Associated Press, foreign, October 21, 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8766970.
117 Shelley Murphy, “Taking Refuge Where His Woes Began: Sudbury Terror Suspect Presses Case on Internet,” The Boston Globe, February 1, 2010, http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/02/01/
web_is_now_refuge_for_man_caught_online/?page=1 (Hereinafter: Murphy, Feb 1, 2010); Denise Lavoie, Abby Goodnough, and Liz Robbins, “Mass. Man Arrested in Terrorism Case,” New York Times, October 21, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/us/22terror.html; Superseding Indictment, U.S. v. Tarek Mehanna and Ahmad Abousamra, Cr. No. 09-CR-10017 GAO, U.S. District Court District of Massachusetts, 2009,
http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/1121.pdf.
allegedly tried but failed to get into such camps.) Sam Rascoff, a former New York Police Department terrorism specialist, notes that “there is a sense that these guys are radicalizing on their own.”118 Frank J. Cilluffo notes that the Web has supplanted mosques as a recruitment venue, especially as terrorists try to draw Westerners into their organizations.119 In December 2011, Mehanna was convicted of “conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda; providing material support to terrorists (and conspiracy to do so); conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country; conspiracy to make false statements to the FBI, and two counts of making false
statements.”120
Aside from its possible impact on the radicalization process, the Internet potentially offers terrorists operational capabilities.121 Its decentralized form mirrors the flattened, cellular structures of most terrorist organizations. Among other things, it could help them to collect intelligence about their targets, communicate with one another, propagandize, recruit foot soldiers, provide training, raise funds, and communicate operational direction.122