View Full Version : Jihad in a social media age: how can the west win an online war?
Jihad in a social media age: how can the west win an online war?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/23/jihad-social-media-age-west-win-online-war?CMP=twt_gu
As ISIS (IS) wages their battle inside of Iraq and Syria. ISIS plans a Social-Media Battle with West? Well, I will say they do have a PR (IO) and Recruitment campaign via Tweeter and other Regional Social Media Sites.
Is this Something the U.S. IC and Military should care about?
The Reaper
08-25-2014, 12:41
See, that is mastery of the Art.
We don't shoot him, we get his brothers or the locals to do it for us.
We just provide the motivation and information they need to do so.
"Brother, I saw on YouTube that you are an agent of the CIA and you have betrayed us!"
TR
Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.
~Dwight D. Eisenhower
Good God yes. We need to fight them on every front. Social media is a combo of two of the four C's in C4&I computers and commo with psyops and a CA element thrown in. Not only should we combat it, we should exploit it, build profiles, tracing etc and guess what, we have the tools. The problem is with that it does not get big military contracts and big money. Also the pentagon is slow at adapting to UW in general and new technology to boot. Get a psychologist familiar with the culture to build profiles etc from them at the least. They have to post from someplace, track them, see if they move around and what patterns you can build. The possibility's go on and on in my mind. Hell hack their sites and post false info, play dirty. Set them against each other using their own sites and hackers. Perhaps the pentagon doesn't play dirty but I sure as hell do.
Okie IMO Pentagon and any Administration will never adapt or accept UW. I can tell you just like in AFG they will always call is FID. What we are doing inside of Iraq currently is FID. U.S. Military Forces are helping the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) by Training, Assisting and Advising them to combat this ISIS element(s) inside their country. I wish SF Groups and Battalions and ODA would view what they are doing as UW without it being told to them. But that is NOT the case. I lived it and got pissed at my leadership for having conventional goggles on.
Now back to topic. As Snowden showed America, it is very easy to “follow” you online. To “looking” at anyone’s “Tweets” (Twits) on Twiter is easy with COT social media visualization tools like NodeXL and Gephi.
Yet the issue is IMO, we as Americans can’t think on their level. Yes we can say we can, but IMO we cannot. This plays to conducting a Social Media IO campaign, you can hire people to read Tweets (Twits) or SM Posts on an Islamic SM Sites. But truly knowing what they think, their faith, their motivations, etc all play into this IO Campaign. The other issue IMO is leadership not understanding SM and knowing how to use it. Even if you get some hacker (25D/35Q) or young MISO (SMART) person to “clue” in the leadership, the leadership still doesn’t get it. Yes you can hire people to translate what is written, but still IMO it would be hard to conduct a counter-OI Campaign on any Muslim movement like ISIS (IS).
See, that is mastery of the Art.
We don't shoot him, we get his brothers or the locals to do it for us.
TR
Yes that should be the plan behind it all.
Don't know if anyone saw it, but Jester shut down a bunch of the sites that the ISIS folks were using, to the tune of 1.3 million users without a way to get their daily jihadi social media fix. Even if the govt agencies aren't doing anything, there are other folks that can and will (http://ladyliberty1885.com/2014/08/20/isismediablackout-propaganda-tango-down/).
Old Dog New Trick
08-27-2014, 08:07
Social media today is the equivalent of the airborne letter drop and AFN (Armed Forces Network - aka America Free Radio) of WWII. It should be as important to command leadership and PSYOPS as a weapon today as it was back then.
They have successfully used SM to rally the dissidents to the focal cause du jour of the day across the middle east and North Africa. As with all things the US is lagging behind the message and slow to use it as either a weapon of opportunity or a counter measure to change the intended purpose.
I like the way TR and Brush Okie are thinking but would add that using SM to set lethal traps of opportunity would also cause them to rethink its usefulness. I.e., clone ISIS or other known leadership accounts and send fighters into an ambush hook-line-sinker and see how useful it would be in the future - create doubt!
This is what gets me about ISIS. If how they can get Muslim converts to come to Iraq and fight from Western Countries. The U.S. has three of them. Two dead inside Iraq and one the FBI arrested in Washington state.
Islamic State Trains Aussies As Suicide Bombers
http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/564235/20140828/islamic-state-aussie-suicide-bomber-jihadists.htm#.U_8YW_6KCSM
One thing that we found in AFG are the WiFi Mesh Networks. Cheaply made and effective for WiFi Communications and Connectivity.
These are populiar in developing countries becuase how cost effective they are.
How To Build A Low-Cost “Wi-Fi Mesh Network” For Emergency Communication
http://www.fastcolabs.com/3020680/how-to-build-a-low-cost-wifi-mesh-network-for-emergency-communication
Old Dog New Trick
08-28-2014, 14:33
MG - I think the message is easy right now because of all the perceived unrest in the world. It's easy to target western values and promote religious intolerance and hatred against those western values. If you build it they will come; in this case if you preach it they will flock to your cause. Hope really is lost on the hopeless.
On the second part - COMCAST would happily assist them with creating a seamless WIFI network tapping into paying customers with duplex routers. :mad:
Old Dog New Trick
08-28-2014, 15:19
IMHO this is a by product of loosing our identity as a nation by this liberal lets kiss everyone cultural ass here mentality. You go to a country to join its culture not impose yours upon it or bring yours along. Let me pick on Mexicans as an example. When I see someone running around here waving the Mexican flag etc I like to ask them, if Mexico is so great why are you here. Before I get accused of being a raciest my exwife was Hispanic decent. She was American however, grew up here. My point being many people here have an identity crisis and thus join gang or Islamic terror groups because we have lost our identity as Americans and a humans we need to identify with some type of group, tribe, religion etc. If we are not provided with one or are to weak to identify with the one we have thanks to commie bullshit news media we have in this country we will find another one that may or may not be a good one.
Fantastic point. It's comes with being an * - American!
Sounds as if their J6 has a plan or two.
ISIS Displaying a Deft Command of Varied Media
NYT, 30 Aug 2014
The extremists who have seized large parts of Syria and Iraq have riveted the world’s attention with their military prowess and unrestrained brutality. But Western intelligence services are also worried about their extraordinary command of seemingly less lethal weapons: state-of-the-art videos, ground images shot from drones and multilingual Twitter messages.
ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, is using every contemporary mode of messaging to recruit fighters, intimidate enemies and promote its claim to have established a caliphate, a unified Muslim state run according to a strict interpretation of Islamic law. If its bigotry and beheadings seem to come from a distant century, its use of media is up to the moment.
A review of its prodigious output in print and online reveals a number of surprises. ISIS propaganda, for instance, has strikingly few calls for attacks on the West, even though its most notorious video, among Americans, released 12 days ago, showed the beheading of the American journalist James Foley, threatened another American hostage, and said that American attacks on ISIS “would result in the bloodshed” of Americans. This diverged from nearly all of ISIS’s varied output, which promotes its paramount goal: to secure and expand the Islamic state. Experts say that could change overnight, but for now it sharply distinguishes ISIS from Al Qaeda, which has long made attacks on the West its top priority.
Cont'd http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/world/middleeast/isis-displaying-a-deft-command-of-varied-media.html?_r=0
The attchd image is an ISIS annual report of its military operations by type and number carried out, a part of its SM strategy.
And so it goes...
Richard
rubberneck
08-31-2014, 08:30
Twitter, Instagram, youtube and liveleak are all US controlled companies. Hard for ISIS to pimp their message if we deny them the outlet to do so.
Twitter, Instagram, youtube and liveleak are all US controlled companies. Hard for ISIS to pimp their message if we deny them the outlet to do so.
Better that we have control than for them to find one housed outside the US.
rubberneck
09-05-2014, 10:53
Better that we have control than for them to find one housed outside the US.
I'm sure they're already posting their garbage out there but the corporations I mentioned have far more eyeballs on them than any other social media out there. No need to let them have the largest possible audience.
blacksmoke
09-06-2014, 15:34
I used to always want to make a video like this of my own, but obviously lacking the time and skills to do so. :lifter
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/05/world/state-department-anti-isis-video/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
“There is a Mount Everest of radicalizing material” on the Internet, says Fernandez. “There’s a small hill, a hillock, of counter-radicalizing material.”
Social Media Flame War Against ISIS
Time, 9 Sep 2014
http://time.com/3305202/isis-barack-obama-social-media/?xid=newsletter-brief
Richard
“There is a Mount Everest of radicalizing material” on the Internet, says Fernandez. “There’s a small hill, a hillock, of counter-radicalizing material.”
Social Media Flame War Against ISIS
Time, 9 Sep 2014
http://time.com/3305202/isis-barack-obama-social-media/?xid=newsletter-brief
Richard
There is a reason why ISIS has such a well thought out and planned Media campaign.
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=1624
Online / schmon-line. OK, go ahead. Use the data and the whiz-bang technology to locate the wanna-bees, then send in SWAT teams decked out in jack boots and machine guns, and waste them. In the meantime go wherever and in whatever country these shitheads are sleeping and stuff their asses with napalm, cluster bombs, .50 cal slugs, (it don't matter...Post Toasties!) and kill every last one. Impale their bodies upside down on stakes along the roadway and let it be known their only option is to surrender for a merciful execution.
It doesn't have to be fancy to be effective. They don't deserve "fancy". No prisoners. None. JMHO.
There is a reason why ISIS has such a well thought out and planned Media campaign.
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=1624
Good info - Boston may turn out to be a hotbed for Islamofascism leadership. If not overt leadership, then policy and technical expertise.
Below is a CBS article discussing American jihadists.
CBS/APSeptember 10, 2014, 10:02 AM
Colorado teen Shannon Conley's support of ISIS raises alarm about American jihadists
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/colorado-teen-shannon-conleys-support-of-isis-raises-alarm-about-american-jihadists/
As an aside, not social media but an an avenue of entry and exit that bears scrutiny - IMO the Visa Waiver Program also needs to be watched carefully. Those select social media gurus can move fairly readily - recruiting hotbeds? They may not strap on the vests but they sure can make some nice movies.
The following 38 countries* are Visa Waiver Program participants:
A
Andorra
Australia
Austria
B
Belgium
Brunei
C
Chile
Czech Republic
D
Denmark
E
Estonia
F
Finland
France
G
Germany
Greece
H
Hungary
I
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
J
Japan
L
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
M
Malta
Monaco
N
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
P
Portugal
S
San Marino
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
T
Taiwan
U
United Kingdom
Not too far south of Boston - 1 hour south...might be interesting to listen to what these folks bring to the perspective...note the emphasis on the use of digital technology. The tech and social media savy of the rising radical leadership will be formidable.
http://www.middleeastbrown.org/research-initiatives/
Great article. They understand long term UW stratgy. This section really got my attention.
IMHO we need to start a psyops campaign with the small kids in the middle east. Until we do this problem will continue to grow. As this article illistrates they are looking down the road while we are not. The Jesuits used to say give me a child until they are seven and I will give you a Catholic for life.
I think they bet us to that plan..
Captured Teen IS Recruit: Bombmaker, Suicide Bomber
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/090920141
Online / schmon-line. OK, go ahead. Use the data and the whiz-bang technology to locate the wanna-bees, then send in SWAT teams decked out in jack boots and machine guns, and waste them. In the meantime go wherever and in whatever country these shitheads are sleeping and stuff their asses with napalm, cluster bombs, .50 cal slugs, (it don't matter...Post Toasties!) and kill every last one. Impale their bodies upside down on stakes along the roadway and let it be known their only option is to surrender for a merciful execution.
It doesn't have to be fancy to be effective. They don't deserve "fancy". No prisoners. None. JMHO.
No offense, but I'm reminded of the quote "You can't kill your way to victory."
I reckon killing represents a single slice of the victory pie, but like Brush Okie's post's I'd prefer to see younger children proper educated or counter indoctrinated to become productive members of their society(and maybe steal a couple of their truly very best) than to have to kill them as teenagers/adults.
Good info - Boston may turn out to be a hotbed for Islamofascism leadership. If not overt leadership, then policy and technical expertise.
Below is a CBS article discussing American jihadists.
CBS/APSeptember 10, 2014, 10:02 AM
Colorado teen Shannon Conley's support of ISIS raises alarm about American jihadists
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/colorado-teen-shannon-conleys-support-of-isis-raises-alarm-about-american-jihadists/
As an aside, not social media but an an avenue of entry and exit that bears scrutiny - IMO the Visa Waiver Program also needs to be watched carefully. Those select social media gurus can move fairly readily - recruiting hotbeds? They may not strap on the vests but they sure can make some nice movies.
The following 38 countries* are Visa Waiver Program participants:
N
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
I remember a conversation with a guy I know from a fairly large company employing folks with a large engineering talent pool.
In order to grow the company needed to assist with the emigration of foreign nationals with technical talent not easily found, making it easier to source work visas for foreign nationals.
There were 3 foreign nationals from the Middle East who were called "Scuds" by the Kiwis. The reason why they were called "Scuds" is because when they received their work visas, which led to permanent residency, which led to citizenship(3 years at the time, now 5), which immediately upon receiving citizenship, they "launched" to the US due to visa free travel.
Very well educated folks who one might think would be very unlikely to radicalize, but then again the 9/11 bombers were well educated middle class.
And this was in the 9 months prior to 9/11.
I remember a conversation with a guy I know from a fairly large company employing folks with a large engineering talent pool.
In order to grow the company needed to assist with the emigration of foreign nationals with technical talent not easily found, making it easier to source work visas for foreign nationals.
There were 3 foreign nationals from the Middle East who were called "Scuds" by the Kiwis. The reason why they were called "Scuds" is because when they received their work visas, which led to permanent residency, which led to citizenship(3 years at the time, now 5), which immediately upon receiving citizenship, they "launched" to the US due to visa free travel.
Very well educated folks who one might think would be very unlikely to radicalize, but then again the 9/11 bombers were well educated middle class.
And this was in the 9 months prior to 9/11.
Interesting.
IMO, one need not "radicalize" to help the cause...where are the youtube vids and "million Muslim marches" in response to the recent beheadings ?
I keep hearing about all these moderate Muslims...the relative silence in condemning IS is telling.
A violent, aggressive group is seizing power and doing the dirty work...others remain silent...we have seen this movie before.
As I recall several major advertising firms and US Companies including Pepsi, Coke, Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook, MSNBC and many more, with the help of the US State Department had a symposium around 2009 to get the Arab Spring on track with selling the idea and the use of social media.
If we started it, surely we can figure how to get on top of it.
As I recall several major advertising firms and US Companies including Pepsi, Coke, Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook, MSNBC and many more, with the help of the US State Department had a symposium around 2009 to get the Arab Spring on track with selling the idea and the use of social media.
If we started it, surely we can figure how to get on top of it.
You would think!
But I wonder if what occurred in 2009 and what followed is an online analog to say Gorbachev and Perestroika/Glasnost?
Especially Glasnost.
Does Glasnost, which cracked open the door to freedom in an attempt at controlled reform(but led to the door being kicked in and reform going completely out of control) represent an analog to the US policy precursors to the Arab Spring?
Instead of comparison to President Carter, does the current US Administration's regional foreign policy bear comparison to Gorbachev's?
No offense, but I'm reminded of the quote "You can't kill your way to victory."
I reckon killing represents a single slice of the victory pie, but like Brush Okie's post's I'd prefer to see younger children proper educated or counter indoctrinated to become productive members of their society(and maybe steal a couple of their truly very best) than to have to kill them as teenagers/adults.
Flagg, I'm in violent agreement with both your passion and the nobility of your argument. Certainly the civilized world should strive with all its worth to prevent the killing of anybody, teenager or adult. Unfortunately ISIS has demonstrated their absolute contempt for the nobility of that premise. They will use any age or gender of person to attack whoever they perceive as a threat regardless of age. In the face of that demonstrated behavior I submit one cannot negotiate with anything less than with brute force. With all respects to Secretary Gates quote, I recall this from Teddy Roosevelt: "Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft."
There is "A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up" and this IMHO is a time to kill and to break down. We really have not been afforded any other options.
I suggest you read "SAS Secret War" as well as "The Village"
Long story short while killing bad guys is needed it is not the only way to go and it is a ways to a means not the solution. Driving into an Iraqi Village and killing everyone will not win the war. Taking out the ISIS in the local village, rooting out the shadow govt, and winning support of the local populace will.
What an insurgent want to do is separate you and I from the population. There are a lot of different ways they do that. one way is to make you think everyone in an area/religion/race etc (take your pick) supports them and is against you. They then like to provoke an over response or perception of one by the forces thus making the local population hate you more than they hate the other side.
The reason they like to show the beheading of Americans is because you see a Muslim killing and American, not an ISIS terrorist killing him. This has several effects but the the one on the average joe blow American doesn't know the difference between sunni/sheit/ arab/persian etc. All you see is some "rag head" killing a fellow citizen and sub concesiouly want to over react and kill every Muslim. They then point to that guy and say see all Christians hate all Muslims. After all Achmed your uncle liked American or at least was neutral, but yet they killed him. See they hate all of us. Your only hope is to join your brothers and kill Americans.
Either you get it or you do not. The US military does not and it bit us in the ass in Iraq and Afghanistan. To fix the "problem" they made up stupid ROE that compounded the issue and it just went to shit from there. That is why conventions troops and command need to stay the hell away from UW and let SOF handle things.
Think of this. What if the country here went to shit and the UN came in and helped us rebuild. During that time some troops took it upon themselves to rape and kill your wife and daughter. What would you do? I know if it were me there would be some dead blue hats.
Just "some"? ;)
The bold part has me thinking about the Sorcerer's Apprentice scene from Fantasia(sorry, just got back from taking my rugrats to Disneyland).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHTnJNGvQcA
Your last paragraph reminds me of a story I was told directly from one of our really well regarded high speedy guys in Afghan in the very early days(late 2001 I believe).
They had to get from "A" to "B" requiring them to transit right through a question mark village at O dark hundred.
They took a few rounds on their way in, pushed thru, and conducted their IA on the far side. The attached JTAC was straight on coms to call a strike on the village and the patrol commander ordered him to stop, when asked why by the JTAC he said something to the effect of "What would you do if some armed strangers rocked through YOUR home at 3am?"
Flagg, I'm in violent agreement with both your passion and the nobility of your argument. Certainly the civilized world should strive with all its worth to prevent the killing of anybody, teenager or adult. Unfortunately ISIS has demonstrated their absolute contempt for the nobility of that premise. They will use any age or gender of person to attack whoever they perceive as a threat regardless of age. In the face of that demonstrated behavior I submit one cannot negotiate with anything less than with brute force. With all respects to Secretary Gates quote, I recall this from Teddy Roosevelt: "Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft."
There is "A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up" and this IMHO is a time to kill and to break down. We really have not been afforded any other options.
I like the Conan Valhalla total war stuff as much as the next guy, but I can't help but think the clear need for invasive surgical intervention(direct kinetic operations) is almost always NOT the exclusive treatment, but just part of a holistic approach to treating the patient.
My personal thought is that if the majority of the treatment is surgical/kinetic in most instances, then we're doing it wrong.
I reckon it's analogous to health care. Surgical capability is awesome. But surgical addiction can turn into a genuine problem. Most health care is non-surgical. I reckon the majority of solving this problem is non-surgical/kinetic...albeit this latest generation of cancerous tumors will have to be removed.....along with a healthy dose of antibiotics and holistic preventative care and lifestyle adjustment for the "patient".
Don't get me wrong, I'm still a "Hulk SMASH!" light infantry fella at heart, but I do like reading my Fitzroy Maclean's Eastern Approaches.
I reckon it's like that "economy of effort"(NOT laziness) that comes from light infantry/donkey doctrine mixed with a bit of the dirty realpolitik of Michael Corleone in Godfather 2.
Why kill someone when you can train someone to kill them for you?
Why kill someone unless you need to? It could be bad for long-term business.
But if you need to kill someone, make sure you do the job properly......and don't leave another generation to kill all over again once they grow up.
By "don't leave" I mean cut the cycle of recruitment to violence via non-kinetic means....before it compels coming back and killing them 10-15 years later( instead of 10-15 seconds later as per Godfather in Sicily to mitigate vendetta).
Just my random thoughts....no harm no foul.
Sorry, y'all. I'm running on 100+ octane piss right now. Tragically, I'm not alone. I admire those who think clearly. I really do. I have lost the bubble on finessing peace out of the mouth of a Pitt Bull that's shaking the arm of a kid. There's no "exclusive" approach that will probably work. And it will take a village to raise this good idiot. Nation building and winning hearts and minds is a necessary MOS, it's just not mine.
But, friends and neighbors, if there ever was an enemy that deserved killing without the slightest hint of mercy it's this one. I say kill the bastards and their seeds. Alas, it is my humble condition today.
I watched 'Judgment At Nuremburg' last night - it is a powerful reminder of the tenuous nature of the rule of law during times of perceived threat, personal responsibility, and who we seek to be as a society.
Richard
Something I've been thinking about while trying to get my head around all the crazy in Ukraine.
I started reading up on Soviet era Active Measures(alive and well and combined with new Russian UW doctrine) and came across the Reagan era Active Measures Working Group:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Measures_Working_Group
Then this article:
http://www.westminster-institute.org/articles/re-engaging-in-the-war-of-ideas-lessons-from-the-active-measures-working-group/
Maybe recreate the AMWG, and add an all source active measures collection and analysis unit with a significant social media component.
But I would think the counter message response time might have to improve to Internet warp speed.
Reading the lessons learned it seems like the most powerful is "counter propaganda with the truth" combined with credibility(my add).
I see these remarks as a good counter to all those recent "ISIL public service messages" for people to think about out there.
Remarks As Prepared for Delivery by President Barack Obama, Address to the United Nations General Assembly
NYC, 24 Sep 2014
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/09/24/remarks-prepared-delivery-president-barack-obama-address-united-nations-
Richard
I see these remarks as a good counter to all those recent "ISIL public service messages" for people to think about out there.
Remarks As Prepared for Delivery by President Barack Obama, Address to the United Nations General Assembly
NYC, 24 Sep 2014
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/09/24/remarks-prepared-delivery-president-barack-obama-address-united-nations-
Richard
I see what you're talking about.. good jab!!
I see these remarks as a good counter to all those recent "ISIL public service messages" for people to think about out there.
Remarks As Prepared for Delivery by President Barack Obama, Address to the United Nations General Assembly
NYC, 24 Sep 2014
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/09/24/remarks-prepared-delivery-president-barack-obama-address-united-nations-
Richard
Apparently, the golf gloves are now off...
Remarks As Prepared for Delivery by President Barack Obama, Address to the United Nations General Assembly
NYC, 24 Sep 2014
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-...nited-nations-
Richard
What may be of interest in the origin of those remarks. There is an interesting correlation between the Policy Brief & the Substance Matter of the Presidents Speech. Read in sequence, the comparison, imvho it difficult to miss.
Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University. The meetings are private, off the record, and by invitation only.
Policy Brief 3/2014
http://dataspace.princeton.edu/jspui/bitstream/88435/dsp015t34sj71r/1/Syria_March2014.pdf
President Obama speech at the UN 9/2014