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December 2014

Social Media and the HomegrownTerrorist ThreatBy Joseph Kunkle, Office of Security Technology, TransportationSecurity Administration, U.S. Department of Homeland Security,Washington, D.C.

hile social media strategies present new opportunities andare playing historic roles in spreading prodemocracyuprisings across the Middle East, they also are creating

new concerns for security agencies dealing in the complex worldof extremist ideology. Prominent terrorist groups are adaptingtactics and strategically evolving out of necessity because of far-reaching, multinational counterterrorism operations abroad. Theyare becoming more adept at making the best use of regionaloperatives, homegrown terrorists, and communicationtechnologies at hand for a long-lasting terror campaign againstthe West. Today, terrorist groups are recruiting, inspiring, andguiding global strategies not just by Internet operations butthrough an organized, steady infusion of propaganda videos andcall-to-action messages circulated via social media platforms,such as blogs, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

The terrorist’s social media framework is targetingdisenfranchised youth with convoluted, fictional information andcreating grassroots terrorists within the U.S. borders. As a result,foreign jihadists are enhancing their opportunities to attack theUnited States by means of a hybrid, multimedia communityparticipant strategy designed to influence citizen extremiststoward violence, orchestrate ideological movements, shapeopportunities to recruit within the United States from unfoldingworld events, and encourage domestic terrorists to set their owngoals and take direct action with open-source and open-endedjihad at home.

The strategy of bringing like-minded people together viaconversational media to increase radicalism and the collectivetechnical capabilities of jihadists, in concert with greater relianceupon regional criminal activities (for example, committingrobberies and selling narcotics for revenue), is significantlychanging the domestic threat picture and adding to the complexityof defeating borderless terrorism. This approach has eliminatedthe need for direct funding from prominent terrorist groups andglobal supporters because homegrown jihadists are capable of

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financing their own operations, as recently demonstrated by thedisruptive and destructive improvised explosive device (IED)attacks in Stockholm, Sweden; Glasgow, Scotland; London,England; Madrid, Spain; and many thwarted plots in the UnitedStates. Of the 32 plots in the United States examined from open-source material, only a few showed evidence of foreign funding.Furthermore, virtual classrooms have lessened the operationalimpact of eliminating key bomb-making specialists, given that in-depth instruction for building IEDs is accessible through globalnetworks.

Countless terrorists have been captured or killed in the wake of9/11, including key operational leaders and highly trained bombmakers. These actions have yielded diminished tradecraft inbuilding IEDs and reduced operational depth in planning andcarrying out large-scale, deadly, spectacular attacks with far-reaching impacts, such as the Bali bombing in Indonesia, theattack against the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden, and thesimultaneous U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa that killedhundreds of people via truck bomb explosions. Nevertheless,there still remains a prolific use of IEDs around the world, andIEDs continue to be the most widely used weapon by jihadists tokill and wound personnel both inside and outside of war zones.The use of social media tools to communicate openly with targetaudiences, such as potential recruits in the countries jihadistswish to attack, is contributing to the emerging spread of bomb-building capabilities and IED operations around the globe,including in the United States. This pervasive, asymmetrical threatis proliferating through the use of social media tools; bringingabout long-term security challenges for intelligence organizationsand domestic law enforcement agencies; and raising the domesticthreat of unpredictable, small-scale surgical strikes by homegrownterrorists using vehicle-borne, person-borne, and leave-behindIEDs—the terrorist’s weapon of choice.

Earlier this year, al Qaeda’s media arm, the Global Islamic MediaFront, released an English-translated bomb-making manual overthe Internet on various social media sites. The training material inthis manual originated from the teachings of Abu Khabbab alMisri, a well-known Egyptian bomb maker in the ExplosiveOrdnance Disposal (EOD) community who taught in terroristtraining camps in Afghanistan and was killed by a U.S. missilestrike in Pakistan a few years ago. This new, comprehensiveexplosives training manual–gone viral—teaches kitchenlaboratory operations; general chemistry; in-depth instructions forsynthesizing primary, secondary, and improvised explosives fromcommonplace ingredients; and directions for making detonatorsand IEDs. This trend of using social media as a learning platformto grow technical capabilities is creating new ways for homegrownjihadists to harness skills in building IEDs and improve operationaltechniques for launching lethal attacks in the United States.Moreover, social media is providing greater geographical reachfor prominent terrorist groups and their widespread affiliates byproviding experienced bomb makers and terrorist leaders(leadership is becoming more organic in nature) opportunities tocommunicate directly to followers and capitalize on homegrownjihadists’ willingness to sacrifice life in prison or performmartyrdom operations anywhere in the world, especially in theWest.

On the surface, this approach sounds familiar; terrorists have

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IACP LaunchesProject onCommunityPolicing andConfrontingViolentExtremism

There has been a rise interrorism-relatedincidents involvinghomegrown violentextremists (HGVE),particularly in the pasttwo years. In theseHGVE cases, theperpetrators weremotivated by a violent

been spreading propaganda and IED instructions over theInternet for years, but the role that social media is playing intoday’s means of communications is much more dynamic. Forexample, one activist in Egypt succinctly tweeted about whydigital media was so important to the organization of politicalunrest: “We use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter tocoordinate, and YouTube to tell the world.”1 This statementsymbolizes the difference between the Internet and social media;social media will come to the radical rather than the radical goingto the Internet and searching for the information.

Law enforcement should be under no illusion that the concept ofterrorism and protecting critical infrastructure is very different thanwhat it was one decade ago. Officials continuously face new andunforeseen threats, especially to open and interconnectedtransportation systems. Never before in history has the statement“anyone can become a terrorist” been more true or easier to attainthan with the advent of social media.2 No longer do traditionalmedia—television, radio, newspapers, and other print publications—control the messages that terrorists seek to deliver todisenfranchise populace in regional or transnational areas. Today,instant-messaging jihadists can communicate with anyone andincrease the drumbeat of violence by directly texting extremists inthe homeland, linking videos, and editing domestic and foreignnews stories to fuel anger and create feelings of self-importanceand power. This kind of social media usage is making grassrootsradicalization more feasible and is increasing the potential forrecruiting operatives or facilitators legally living in targetedcountries. This continuous type of exploitation will most likelyincrease the probability of future IED attacks within U.S. borderssince more people than ever before with national, culturalknowledge (that is, integrated citizens and noncitizens able toblend into communities) have access to detailed instructions onproducing explosives and making IEDs, support from withinimmigrant communities, and virtual guidance for carrying outbombing attacks with little to no warning signs for intelligence andlaw enforcement agencies to detect and disrupt plots.

Although there have been recentfailed attempts by homegrownjihadists to carry out bombingattacks in the United States, 18 of30 terror plots analyzed between2001 and 2010 included usingIEDs.3 The security communitycannot make the error of measuringthe lack of understanding ofexplosives fundamentals andtechnical knowledge in IEDconstruction as common operationalpractices of homegrown terrorists.Nor can law enforcement presumethat because there were nodetonations or causalities in theseincidents, the capability to buildlethal IEDs and carryout successfulattacks in the United States hasbeen perpetually diminished by thepursuit and arrests of terroristsaround the world. Most likely, core

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ideology that they wereexposed to in person orvia the Internet.Defeating the threat ofhomegrown terrorismdepends on the whole ofU.S. society to ensurethat violent ideologies donot influence vulnerablecommunities orindividuals. State, local,and tribal lawenforcement agenciescan lead this effort byleveraging establishedrelationships withcommunity organizationsand leaders, developedthrough establishedcommunity policing andoutreach initiatives.

The IACP launched theCommunity Policing andConfronting ViolentExtremism (CPCVE)project through a grantfrom the Office ofCommunity OrientedPolicing Services(COPS), U.S.Department of Justice. Aprimary goal of theCPCVE project is toproduce resources forlaw enforcement toincrease its capacity tocounter violent extremistideologies. This includeseducating the communityabout how terrorists usethe Internet and socialmedia to win supportand incite violence. As aresult of education, thecommunity will be betterpositioned to recognizethe indicators of violentextremism and work ingreater partnership withlaw enforcement toeliminate the threat.

For more informationabout the CPCVEproject, please contactthe program manager,

jihadists will take a long-term viewof these botched operations—although not a failure in their eyes—and produce new, more detailedinstructions on IED fabrication forsocial media distribution in an effortto build upon current, low-leveltechnical capabilities. The counter-IED community has previously seenterrorist organizations post good-quality production instructionalvideos on the Internet forconstructing suicide vests,explosively formed projectiles,detonators, and improvisedexplosives to improve IED tactics inoverseas insurgency operations.

The tactic—whether intentionallyplanned or not—of lone-wolfindividuals and self-made terroriststo opportunistically attack symbolictargets anytime or anywhere theydiscover vulnerabilities is skillfullycreating open-source and open-ended warfare within the UnitedStates. Moreover, this approach hasthe potential to infuse uncertaintyinto future homeland threat analysisframeworks because of the inabilityto predict with accuracy the level ofoperational knowledge being sharedand the technical capabilities beinggained by multidimensional,irregular actors living in the UnitedStates. The result of this new threatparadigm is that a nobody canbecome a somebody without havingto travel to Pakistan, Yemen, orregions in Northern Africa. Intoday’s new reality, aspiringjihadists do not have to leave hometo become radicalized or participatein deadly terrorist attacks againstthe United States. They canbecome radicalized in small stepswithout ever having to make the bigleap overseas and risk beingdiscovered by intelligence agencies.By logging onto Internet forums ofunregulated and unrestrictedspeech, want-to-be jihadists canpersonally brand themselves asterrorists (lines between reality andfictional personas blur) and create aresilient virtual terror cell where theycan share and spread ideologicalbeliefs, raise funds, justify andcreate motives for violence,disseminate misinformation, learnand share terrorist tactics from war

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Sarah Horn, athorn@theiacp.org.

zones, glorify and compare notes onsuccessful and even failed terroroperations and plots, inflame publicopinion against Western society, and promote a jihad campaignagainst anyone or anything in the United States.

The crossroads of social media and IED operations in the UnitedStates creates a web of challenges for security organizations.Terrorists are recognizing social media’s resiliency andoperational effectiveness. Prominent terrorist groups aredemonstrating an understanding that strength lies in numbers,and greater numbers of grassroots terrorists develop a greatercapacity to successfully attack the United States from within.Protecting potential and favored targets from a strategy thatemanates from behind media platforms with countless peoplehaving access to radicalization processes, where emotionobliterates reason and IED capabilities are built at home, isproblematic. This evolving threat will require vast resources andvaried approaches from federal, state, and local governments toconstantly view media sites to become familiar with tactics ofinterest and watch for growing technical capabilities for carryingout IED attacks within the United States. The natural vulnerabilityto this method of communication and open-source warfare willmost likely lead jihadists to increase their usage of socialnetworking tools and, as a result, transform the framework ofterrorism and what law enforcement believes and knows aboutthis global phenomenon.

The lethal and psychological effectiveness of IEDs on a country’spopulation, along with the increased ease of access to IED-building information, will ensure this threat remains for theforeseeable future. The likelihood of homegrown jihadistsascertaining the skills to deploy advanced IEDs in the UnitedStates from those who have experience in fighting overseas andwho possess the know-how to make vehicle- or person-borneIEDs will test the efficacy of the frontline and the securitycommunity’s deterrence credibility. An organization’s deterrencecredibility is measured by the speed at which stakeholders canidentify emerging trends—not by actual incidents, but through theintelligence cycle—and design security measures to defeat ordelay those evolving threats before they are used in an attack.This is the basis for risk-based, intelligence-driven securityapproaches, a process that most stewards of homeland securityhave adopted and implemented successfully. When implementingthis security concept, law enforcement must appreciate oneimportant element: seldom is intelligence black and white, andsecurity strategies and operational measures must be made withthe best information available, because playing catch-up tointelligence by attacks is never an effective option or a securitymeasure in this war of adapt and overcome.

The multimedia strategy of prominent terrorist groups most likelyreflects what they want to become at the start of this, the 21stcentury: An unpredictable, decentralized, networked, organic,freelance-type organization that introduces risk and uncertaintyinto the marketplace, draws upon intellectual talents and practicalfield experiences from personnel across the globe, and takes intoaccount the activities and the contributions of jihadist operationsaround the world. This approach makes a prolonged strategy thatpresumes the sum of terrorist attacks in the homelands ofWestern nations is greater than a major individual attack.

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Defeating this resilient, asymmetrical threat will require flexibilityin legacy security measures and operations, as well as strategiesof creative insights and collective developments of smart securitysolutions from all stakeholders. This should include developing afar greater depth of knowledge in explosives—especially inimprovised and commercial explosives—and in global IEDdesigns, operations, and capability levels and a morecomprehensive understanding of the general threat spectrum theworld faces. Law enforcement’s ability or inability to swiftlyrespond to the growing use of social media channels and evolvingIED tactics around the world will signal to the enemy the depth ofU.S. strength in defeating this irregular, unprecedented challengein the United States.

In closing, for the past couple of years, social media has becomea vital operating juncture for allowing jihadists to operateautonomously and to plot attacks in the United States from within.To what extent social media tools are being used to radicalizeindividuals and plot attacks in the United States is difficult todetermine because it is not easy to measure this process. Just asin the private business sector, elements that are unquantifiableare unknowns, unknowns inherently bring risk and uncertainty intooperations, and unknowns in homeland security bringsusceptibility to attack.

Social media has and continues to play a major role in increasingradicalization and the spread of instructions for IED attacks in theUnited States. For the near future, law enforcement will mostlikely continue to see lone extremists deploying low-skill-level IEDattacks with a small number of causalities in the United States.While nobody will argue against this scenario, especially theunsuspecting people being targeted or the EOD techniciansresponding to these attacks, law enforcement cannot allow thesetypes of incidents to deceive its better judgment. At its best, socialmedia has the power to change the status quo; it can facilitateoverthrowing authoritarian regimes and educate a society. At itsworst, it can teach enough general chemistry, explosivesfundamentals, electronics, surveillance operations, and IEDoperational planning to enable even novices to construct lethalIEDs capable of producing mass murder and destruction in U.S.cities and transportation sectors. In the words of philosopher andpoet George Santayana, “We should always remember that thosewho do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Historyhas tragically proven that terrorists exploit new technologies toplan attacks, evolve and learn from their mistakes, and takeadvantage of law enforcement’s misjudgments in their emergingcapabilities to carry out deadly attacks. ■

The views represented in this paper reflect that of theauthor and not that of the federal government, theDepartment of Homeland Security, or the TransportationSecurity Administration.

Notes:

1Philip N. Howard, “The Arab Spring’s Cascading Effects,” Pacific Standard,February 23, 2011, http://www.miller-mccune.com/politics/the-cascading-effects-of-the-arab-spring-28575/# (accessed April 16,

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2012).2General Arjun Ray, in “ ‘Be a Part of Intelligentsia’: A Talk on CounteringTerror,” January 15, 2009, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, India,http://www.isb.edu/Media/UsrSiteNewsMgmt.aspx?topicid=494(accessed April 19, 2012).3New York State Intelligence Center, The Vigilance Project: An Analysis of 32Terrorism Cases against the Homeland (December 2010),http://info.publicintelligence.net/NYSIC-VigilanceProject.pdf(accessed April 16, 2012).

Please cite as:

Joseph Kunkle, "Social Media and the Homegrown Terrorist Threat,"The Police Chief 79 (June 2012): 22–28.

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Top From The Police Chief, vol. LXXIX, no. 6, June 2012. Copyrightheld by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, 515North Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 USA.