counterterrorism
Over the long term, it will be crucial to turn off the IS recruiting faucet. Doing so will require counterterrorism officials to better understand that that the “snuff videos” for which IS has become so well-known are not the principal enlistment tools. Rather than “come kill,” the strongest message is “come build the caliphate.”
Philip Seib cautions against unfounded optimism about the decline of IS.
Forget proxy metrics and studying a single Twitter list—this is what Jihadist information dissemination really looks like.
The appeal of radical groups is in their offering of a new purpose, and thus a reclamation of masculinity, for recruits.
The Obama administration is taking its fight against ISIS to Hollywood, consulting with some of the world’s best storytellers for tips on how to win the battle for hearts and minds. [...] The outreach is part of a revamped administration strategy to counter ISIS’s magnetic pull for some young people in the Middle East and beyond, working with local partners, establishing a new Washington-based communications center and, now, drawing on the deep well of movie maker experience.
The Obama administration is overhauling its faltering efforts to combat the online propaganda of the Islamic State and other terrorist groups, U.S. officials said, reflecting rising White House frustration with largely ineffective efforts so far to cut into ISIS’s use of social media to draw recruits and incite attacks. Officials will create a counterterrorism task force, which will be based at the Department of Homeland Security but aims to enlist dozens of federal and local agencies.