Posted by
Boris Tiraspolsky on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 1:16:20 AM
"How can traditional counter-intelligence operations deter or undermine this emerging threat? They can't. Not unlike Iraqi IEDs, these innovative technologies require new doctrines, new training and new tactics to cope."
Jihadinets
By Roderick Jones
This piece was co-authored with Michael Schrage
Terrorists are early adopters of new technologies - especially if they're cheap and easy to acquire. Al-Qaeda's global embrace of the Internet was no surprise. The virtual world of jihadi chat rooms, online recruitment and networked proliferation of deadly terrorist techniques has entered the public consciousness. No serious security observer now doubts that radical Islamist groups are adept at exploiting online environments. Therefore, the most visible recent advances in the realm of online collaboration -virtual worlds and social networking sites - will likely be adapted for use by extremists. The benefits these platforms provide for military training and operational command & control sharing are clear. The inevitable adoption of these systems by extremists will likely mirror past online developments: quiet experimentation across a number of platforms and mainstream systems, followed by the creation of password-protected digital enclaves that incubate future destruction.
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