The Use and Abuseof the Internet in an

Age of Infoterror

James Der DerianWatson Institute for International Studies Brown University

Secretary Rumsfeld at the Council on Foreign Relations• On February 17th, 2006, then-Secretary of Defense Donald

Rumsfeld spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City.

• His message: Multi-media as new multi-front battlefield of terrorism.

• Terrorists leverage advantages in communication, forming elaborate networks through use of Internet, cell phones and other technologies.

• The U.S. government lags behind terrorists in terms of speed and effectiveness of communication.

Terrorism andthe Internet

Al-Qaeda Net• Before September 11, there was one al-Qaeda website; now

four thousand.• Imam Samudra, on death row in Indonesia for 2002 Bali

bombings, had laptop with wireless Internet access and a cell phone smuggled into his prison cell, through which authorities believe he planned October 2005 bombings.

• Al-Qaeda, citing ‘technology-based crime(s),’ recruits online people who understand technology.

• http://www.sunstar.com/ph/static/cag/2006/11/13/news/al.qaeda.intensifies.recruitment.online.html

Secret Files in Images• Steganography: a way to

hide messages in seemingly innocent digital images.

• Mathematicians at Iowa State University have developed software to detect data and information disseminated through digital images, the artificial neural net (ANN).

• http://www.technologynewsdaily.com/node/5147

Voice-over Internet Protocol• With an increasing availability

of wireless Internet access and Internet-driven phone programs (eg. Skype), Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is becoming increasingly popular among terrorists who see those types of transmissions as more difficult to tap.

• Recipes and instructions for explosives using commercial components ‘are now almost as common as restaurant reviews.’

• Successful attack techniques in the Iraq war are being transmitted instantly.

• http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/nationa/story.html?id=cc9af095-c672-4d5d-8c31-20ca710b3010

Anonymity on the Internet• Seeking anonymity, high-

ranking terrorists use internet cafés in the UK.

• Dhiren Barot, recently sentenced to 40 years in prison, planned to plant bombs in both the UK and the U.S. and on one occasion drove from London to Swansea to use an internet café, sending emails in a coded language.

• http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_headline=terrorists--seeking--to-hide-in--anonymity--of-wales-&me

Juba the Sniper: Video I• Juba is the nom de guerre of

an alleged sniper involved with the Iraqi insurgency, claiming to have killed 37 American soldiers.

• Juba may be an individual, a composite of insurgency snipers, or a completely fictional character.

• The first video shows US soldiers falling to the ground in addition to audio addressing President Bush and claiming the actions in the name of Islam and God (Allahu Akhbar).

Juba the Sniper: Video II• Juba’s second video was

distributed as an end-of-Ramadan ‘gift’ and released on the Internet in late October 2006.

• The video ‘emphasizes the fear generated in coalition forces by insurgency snipers.’

• The video also features the ‘Baghdad sniper commander’ who claims that the men are inspired by the book The Ultimate Sniper by retired Major and US Army sniper John Plaster.

Juba the Sniper: Video III, etc.• Juba’s third video was released

within the last month.• Since mid-November, Juba’s website

—jubaonline.org—has now been suspended.

• More information on Juba can be found at wikipedia.org under ‘Juba (sniper).’

• http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PAR929648.htm

• Juba videos can be found at YouTube.com.

• The Iraqi army is marketing Juba’s videos as a ‘documentary’ series.

• All videos have been subtitled in English.

Google for Terrorists• The Jihad Media Battalion

has published a 26-page guide for using Google to ‘remind our Muslim brothers in general, and the mujahideen in particular, the need to learn the arts of jihad on the internet and Jihad media’ (sic).

• Many of the JMB’s videos are targeted at Western perceptions of the War on Terror, almost all videos featuring English subtitles.

Al-Jazeera• The television news

channel garnered worldwide attention when it aired videos of Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders defending and justifying the attacks in America on 9/11.

• Since then, members of the Bush administration have criticized the channel as having a strong anti-American bias and airing jihadist propaganda.

Counterterrorismand the Internet

The Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE)

• Extensive database of terrorist internet and multimedia use.

• The SITE Institute both monitors and studies ‘primary source propaganda, training manuals, and chatter of terrorists’ online citing the failure to do so as a ‘failure in intelligence.’

• http://www.siteinstitute.org

Government Countermeasures • In 2001, a number of

government agencies removed from their websites information that may have proved useful to terrorists, such as CDC warnings of a lack of preparedness for an attack using chemical agents.

• Since Rumsfeld’s speech in February, few changes have been made in government policy in the Media War on Terror.

FBI Seeks Pearl Video Ban on the Internet

• In March, 2002, the FBI demanded that a website displaying the horrific 4-minute video clip of reporter Daniel Pearl’s murder remove the clip.

• The clip was put back online shortly afterward, and has since been widely disseminated throughout the Internet.

Information Operations• In the 78-page text of the

Department of Defense’s 2003 Information Operations Roadmap (declassified 01/2006), there is not one mention of the Internet or countering cyber-terrorism.

• The Military Counterinsurgency Manual mentions the Internet, but suggests little in terms of government utilization of the Internet to counter terrorism.

Military Counterinsurgency Manual• “1-43. As was noted earlier, insurgents now use

communications technology, including the Internet, to link with allied groups within and outside the country, joining in loose organizations with a common objective but very different motivations.”

• “5-22. Information themes are based on policy and should be distributed simultaneously or as soon as possible using all available means, such as radio, television, newspapers, flyers, billboards, and the Internet. Polling and analysis should be conducted to determine which media allow the widest dissemination of the themes to the desired audiences at the local, regional, national, and international levels.”

‘The Mongols of the Information Age’

• Max Boot, Senior Fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote an op-ed on October 29, 2006, detailing the failure of America to maintain supremacy in the Information Age.

• Boot likens the United States to great powers of the past, such as the Mongol Empire, that were overcome by lesser powers who succeeded in taking advantage of revolutions in military affairs.

• Boot suggests that the US may be just such a power in the Information Age, giving way to insurgent and terrorist groups more capable of utilizing new technologies.

Boot’s Op-Ed, cont’d:

• “Our most formidable enemies, Al Qaeda and its ilk ... are using relatively simple information technology—the Internet, satellite television, cellphones—to organize a global insurgency.”

• “New revolutions in military affairs, possibly centered on biotechnology and cyber-war, promise to give smaller states or sub-state actors more destructive capacity.”

• “The future of U.S. power rests on our ability to remake a government still structured for Industrial Age warfare to do battle with decentralized adversaries in the Information Age.”

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Independence Day (1996)

Traffic (2000)

The cover graphic of a Federal Emergency Management Agency/ Department of Justice manual, published before May 1998