Charania SocialMediasPotential 2016

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 8

National Military Intelligence Foundation

Social Media's Potential in Intelligence CollectionAuthor(s): Sofia Charania


Source: American Intelligence Journal , Vol. 33, No. 2, Intelligence in Peace and War
(2016), pp. 94-100
Published by: National Military Intelligence Foundation

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26497093

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

National Military Intelligence Foundation is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and
extend access to American Intelligence Journal

This content downloaded from


168.195.52.137 on Sun, 24 Mar 2024 16:22:54 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Social Media's Potential in Intelligence Collection
by Sofia Charania

OVERVIEW BACKGROUND

T
he importance of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)—

T
his article discusses the benefits and challenges that
social media poses to intelligence collectors within the intelligence gathered from publicly available
context of counterterrorism. On one hand, social media sources—has increased in recent years, especially
can provide insight on the broader goals of terrorist with the popularity that the Internet has gained since the
organizations, their targets, and their research interests. It early 2000s. Although OSINT is not limited to the Internet,
can also be helpful in gauging public opinion, particularly that particular medium houses an ever-increasing volume of
public dissatisfaction, which can be used to anticipate information. The emergence of Internet-based social media,
some of the conditions that may give rise to terrorist in particular, has complicated the use of OSINT. Social media
activity. On the other hand, with nearly a billion web in this article will encompass “all online applications that
pages in existence, social media exacerbates collectors’ spontaneously and interactively connect Internet users,
existing challenge of distinguishing signals from noise as through searchable directories (Facebook, LinkedIn), text- or
they sift through Open Source Intelligence. It can also audio-based blogs (WordPress, BlogTalkRadio), microblogs
provide new avenues for discreet communication between (Twitter, Tumblr), video-sharing (YouTube, DailyMotion),
members of terrorist organizations, and can serve as a collaborative tools (GoogleDocs), and wikis (Twiki,
source of disinformation. Overall, social media is likely to SharePoint).”3
be more helpful than harmful for analysts if our agencies
invest in designing predictive models that filter through BENEFITS OF THE INTERNET
relevant metadata to anticipate attacks before they occur,
and if they invest in designing programs that can frustrate

T
his section entails a very brief discussion of the
terrorist organizations’ effective use of social media benefits of Open Source Intelligence, and particularly
platforms. the Internet, compared to other intelligence-gathering
disciplines. By investing more heavily in OSINT analysis,
INTRODUCTION the Intelligence Community (IC) can more effectively counter
threats to national security. Given the accessibility of
OSINT, more resources can be allocated toward collection,

S
ince the advent of Six Degrees and AOL Instant
Messenger in 1997,1 social media has become linguistic translation,4 and analysis of OSINT Internet data
increasingly important, reforming marketing for effective use in countering threats.
approaches,2 interpersonal anticipating and addressing
terrorism. I argue that some aspects of social media have Quantity of Information
made the potential payoff from using the Internet greater,
while other aspects have made the challenges it presents OSINT provides collectors with much of the information
more problematic. However, I conclude that using the they need.5 In fact, according to Robert David Steele, a
provided policy recommendations can mitigate the former CIA case officer, “80 percent of the mission-critical
challenges, making social media more helpful than harmful information that the intelligence community needs is publicly
to analysts. Specifically, I propose that the analysis of available.”6 With over a billion Internet users since 2008, and
information available via social media deserves more one billion websites in 2014,7 it is no wonder that much of
funding, much of which should be allocated toward the this public information is available through the Internet. It
development of predictive models. can be published online in blogs, media broadcasts, “grey
literature” (information obtained from expert channels like
academia),8 and other forms.

Vol 33, No 2, 2016 Page 94 American Intelligence Journal

This content downloaded from


168.195.52.137 on Sun, 24 Mar 2024 16:22:54 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Low Cost Donald Trump has turned Twitter into a political
sensation, and a controversial one at that. He routinely
A second benefit that the Internet offers to intelligence uses “Tweets” to bypass the news media and communicate
analysts is its ease of access and low cost. Analysts are able his views directly to the public.]
to view an immense amount of information online from
anywhere in the world, for virtually no charge beyond that of In the context of counterterrorism, the ease by which the
their Internet connection. In comparison, about 70% of the average individual can post to social media also provides
U.S. intelligence budget is spent on technical collection and something that analysts can leverage. Terrorist
private contractors. organizations cannot control everything their members do
on the web. Regarding ISIS, Aymen Al-Tamimi, a fellow at
Low Risk the Middle East Forum who has closely followed Syrian
militant groups, states, “It’s clear who’s managing the
A third benefit to using OSINT is the low risk it poses to official accounts, it’s centralized management, but then there
analysts, especially compared to other intelligence-gathering are fan-boys, and no one has any control over what they
disciplines. The emergence of the Internet as a medium of do.”11 In 2014 ISIS leadership demanded that members turn
OSINT has increased the quantity of information available to off location services on their mobile devices so as not to
collectors without even needing to utilize a human asset. reveal their location, but many members still had location
OSINT can be collected by ethical and legal means, without enabled on some of their recent Tweets, leaking location
risking exposure of sensitive assets. data.12 “A significant number of accounts provided reliable
GPS coordinates in ISIS territories,”13 according to research
SOCIAL MEDIA’S ROLE conducted by the Brookings Institution. ISIS leadership
also banned iPhones around the same time due to similar
security concerns, but around a third of ISIS supporters’

S
ocial media augments the benefits discussed above,
and can be leveraged for counterterrorism objectives. tweets came from iPhones, and little change was noted after
This includes both addressing existing terror threats the decree,17 reinforcing the point that, although ISIS may try
and anticipating conditions that may give rise to terrorist to control its supporters, it is hard to regulate what
activity. supporters and members do online. Analysts can leverage
the small leaks that result from non-compliant members or
Makes Posting Information Easier supporters on the web, with location data being one of the
most useful types of leaks. ISIS members often share
Social media acts as an avenue by which basically anyone mundane information about their daily lives (much like the
can post information online with ease. Social networking majority of social media users), for example, sharing a Tweet
sites are extremely user-friendly and the most popular ones about enjoying a Snickers bar: “I know I should thank Allah
are almost always free. Prior to the explosion of social media, a lot for the various blessings that are here. Never imagined I
particularly blogging and micro-blogging, posting would eat a Snickers here=D.”16
information on a webpage was time-consuming and required
more digital expertise than it does today. In sum, social Analysts can learn about the daily life and attitudes of ISIS
media makes sharing information with the public easier than members (and members of other digitally active terrorist
ever before. organizations) via the information they post frivolously or
casually. From these types of posts, analysts can develop an
Today, social media is the fastest real-time source of understanding of the organization’s operating structure and
information available,9 because of the ease with which of members’ perspectives to counter terrorist organizations’
anyone can post updates. Of course, media broadcasts by activities more effectively.
news agencies occur extremely quickly today, but social
media is distinctive because it allows individuals with The following case study is an example of analysts
unique information to share with the public directly. The successfully leveraging a “leak” by a non-compliant ISIS
use of Twitter during the recent terrorist attacks in Paris member on Twitter, which is an important channel of
demonstrates the speed with which information is shared propaganda dissemination for the organization.14
via social media online, and also demonstrates an example
of individuals (witnesses and hostages, in this case) Recently, an ISIS member posted a selfie to Twitter
sharing with the outside world information to which only bragging about the “command and control capabilities
they were privy. For example, one hostage posted to for Daesh,” serving as an example of information
Facebook, “Please come help us! They are shooting carelessly made public. Air Force General “Hawk”
people one by one! First floor, quick!”10 [Editor’s Note: Carlisle was able to use this information, particularly
the location services associated with the posting, to

American Intelligence Journal Page 95 Vol 33, No 2, 2016

This content downloaded from


168.195.52.137 on Sun, 24 Mar 2024 16:22:54 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
the U.S.’s advantage. After the location was vetted Levant it brands itself as a philanthropic defender
and confirmed, an airstrike was launched and the ISIS of Islam. For example, ISIS Tweets aimed at the
building was taken out,15 demonstrating how that U.S. are usually threatening, such as “You are our
piece of location data was used as actionable goals anywhere.”18 Video propaganda aimed at
intelligence. the East, however, includes videos of members
distributing food and relief items. 19 The
Provides Insight on Broader Goals of Terrorist philanthropic image ISIS seeks to portray to the
Organizations Middle East via its social media strategies can
inform analysts about how the organization
Social media furthers the benefits provided by the Internet acquires support in its homeland in real life. This
by allowing analysts to monitor crises and track terrorist information can be used to inform U.S. overseas
groups. Analysts can utilize social media to learn about strategies to work toward minimizing support for
terrorist organizations’ strategy and targets, about their such organizations.
research interests, and about the terror network as a whole.
I argue that this information can be leveraged in predicting 2. Targets
attacks and countering terrorist efforts, which will be
discussed within the context of ISIS. Much of the Terrorist organizations utilize social media to recruit new
information gathered from social media may not be members, spread propaganda, and embolden current
immediately actionable (though some of it certainly is), but it members. Analysts can use this information to learn about
can help analysts conduct reconnaissance and may become these organizations’ broader strategies in order to counter
actionable in the future. them more effectively. Terrorist language on social media
can be used to infer who potential targets may be. For
1. Strategy example, Jihadi websites described the Bataclan Theatre in
Paris as being pro-Israel.20 Although it is unclear whether
The insights gained from analyzing terrorist social media Jihadi social media also reflected this belief about the
tactics can translate to a deeper understanding of the Bataclan, analysts can monitor social media sites to scan for
organization’s on-the-ground tactics as well. By studying similar information, which would inform them about likely
the tactics that ISIS uses online and focusing on those that targets. This information can be used to increase security
are most successful, analysts can better understand how the where attacks are most likely.
organization works and develop informed expectations about
its future tactics, both of which are critical to defeating it. 3. Terror Network

From ISIS social media use, analysts can identify specific Social media also allows collectors to monitor relationships
tactics that the group favors, which likely transcend the between individuals via networks like Facebook and Twitter.
virtual world. For example: According to Daniel Byman, a professor at the Georgetown
University School of Foreign Service, and Jeremy Shapiro, a
a. ISIS uses notions of empowerment to attract fellow in the Brookings foreign policy program, a common
vulnerable individuals via social media outlets. problem for analysts is “detecting a terrorist before he acts.”
The story of Alex, a young female convert to They also state that Facebook friends or Twitter followers of
Islam, is a perfect example.16 A lonely young Syrian militants could be potential terrorists21 and, at the
woman who struggles with “lack of maturity and very least, this information can guide analysts in determining
poor judgment” due to fetal alcohol syndrome, whom to monitor online.
Alex is the type of at-risk youth that terrorist
organizations like ISIS target. Members 4. Research Interests
communicate with potential recruits like Alex via
social media platforms such as Facebook and Social media provides a source of information that analysts
promise the reward of having a purpose in life, can exploit with data- crunching tools to predict major
fighting for a just cause, etc.,17 which is often attacks. After the November 13, 2015, attacks in France,
exactly what these disenfranchised individuals analysts at Predata subsequently scraped metadata from
are searching for. many web pages and built a model that successfully warned
of the attacks. The webpages from which data were scraped
b. ISIS brands its organization strategically and include YouTube, a social media site. The model took into
specifically for its various audiences on social account the activity (page views, number of participants,
media. To the West, it aims to appear powerful etc.) on web pages relevant to terrorism and it showed a
and ruthless, while to the residents of Iraq and the spike in activity in these pages that exceeded the threshold

Vol 33, No 2, 2016 Page 96 American Intelligence Journal

This content downloaded from


168.195.52.137 on Sun, 24 Mar 2024 16:22:54 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
for sounding an alarm within the model, which indicates that discontent and revolution followed, touching Egypt,
there is strong likelihood of an attack. This model was used Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, and other Arab states.
to predict correctly (and retroactively) eight of the last 12 Social media was used as a tool for coordinating
terrorist attacks in France.22 Using information gathered from anti-government protests, and for spreading
social media sites such as YouTube can indicate to analysts information about those protests to the world at
which webpages are receiving unexpected increases in large.4 The degree to which “online social networks
activity. This can signal the need for alertness and further reflected and channeled popular discontent during
investigation regarding terrorist activity. the Arab Spring” in the form of online postings
caught the attention of intelligence officials and
Gauging Public Opinion shocked them.5 It was around this time that the U.S.
government began developing a framework for
Social media also furthers the benefits provided by the “culling intelligence from social media networks.”32
Internet by allowing analysts to monitor and gauge public
opinion, which aids in predicting uprisings. This is relevant However, despite the numerous individual posts
to the counterterrorism cause because it allows analysts to indicating dissatisfaction with the political situation, the
understand and foresee political instability, which is one of U.S. and its allies still seemed surprised by the Arab
the conditions that may give rise to an increase in terrorist Spring uprisings.6 The lack of preparation for the
activity.23 uprisings indicates that the U.S. Intelligence Community
was unable to effectively integrate the information from
Social media also furthers the benefits provided by the these individual posts to determine large-scale trends in
Internet by allowing analysts to monitor and gauge public attitude. However, models now exist that can assist
opinion, which aids in predicting uprisings. This is relevant analysts in determining such trends. The public opinion
to the counterterrorism cause because it allows analysts to reflected by social media can be used to predict mass
understand and foresee political instability, which is one of uprisings in a similar way to the web-scraping technique
the conditions that may give rise to an increase in terrorist described earlier. Models that examine the “tone” of posts
activity.1 regarding the political, social, or economic situation on
social media by using “sentiment mining” can indicate
Social media essentially serves as a crowd-sourced form of long-term trends that point to dissatisfaction and risk of
information.14 Analysts can compare the posts of millions of uprising.7 This approach can be used to spot signs of
social media users to understand the general attitudes trouble and inform the IC and policymakers how best to
regarding different events and political groups. With only satisfy the needs and wants of the public so as to avoid
11.8% of Twitter users having “protected” or “private” situations of political, social, or economic instability,
accounts,2 and around 50% of Facebook users using which are considered favorable conditions for terrorist
“private” accounts, analysts are able to view the majority of activity.8 Essentially, social media can be used to
posts on leading social networking sites even without anticipate some of the conditions that may give rise to
violating any user privacy rights. Analysts can compare terrorist activity, alerting analysts and policymakers to
posts from each social networking site to determine the adjust their strategies accordingly.
number of people who either support or oppose certain ideas
(and they can extrapolate from these statistics to estimate CHALLENGES POSED BY THE INTERNET
about larger populations), in a way that would not be
allowed for by the Internet without social media sites.

T
his section briefly discusses a few challenges
associated with OSINT, and particularly the Internet,
The following case study on the Arab Spring demonstrates as a source of intelligence.
that posts made on social media platforms reflect public
opinion extensively. This can be helpful to analysts when Distinguishing Signals from Noise
there is evidence of public discontent with the political,
economic, or social system, since these factors may A primary challenge of using OSINT is the immense
contribute to an environment conducive to terrorist activity.3 amount of information available. While this can be a
Knowledge of public opinion gained from social media sites benefit for analysts, it often serves as a challenge as well,
can help analysts develop more informed expectations for since it exacerbates the ever-present issue of filtering the
the future. signals from the noise. OSINT is probably the collection
discipline that faces the greatest dilemma of filtering, and
Starting in 2010, social networking media was used the advent of the Internet has only exacerbated this issue.
to mobilize grassroots protest movements,
beginning in Tunisia, and subsequent waves of

American Intelligence Journal Page 97 Vol 33, No 2, 2016

This content downloaded from


168.195.52.137 on Sun, 24 Mar 2024 16:22:54 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Hard to Assess Truth of Information the Arab Spring movement to spam the live feed with
Tweets, so that messages sent by activists were “pushed
A further dilemma that the Internet poses is the difficulty of lower on the page and out of sight by an automated
ascertaining the truth of information found via this collection system.”38 ISIS uses bots and apps to “disseminate ISIS
method. It is not possible to control the information that propaganda at a pace and volume that enables their wider
people can put out into the global web; anyone can make a distribution.”18
webpage from anywhere in the world.
Case Study of Disinformation via Social Media
Easy for Adversaries to go Under the Radar
Terrorist groups often use social media as a means of
Another issue with the Internet is the ease with which spreading propaganda and attracting potential
militant and terrorist groups can go offline completely. recruits. ISIS is especially active on social media,
Militant groups are more aware than ever of “how large their notably Twitter. There were almost 18.000 accounts
digital footprint”10 is, and are careful about their online related to the ISIS network in January 2015.1
activity. Going offline completely is attainable for terrorist Additionally, ISIS and al Qaeda use “bots” on social
organizations (though not likely since it would frustrate their media to show support for their cause.45 421 ISIS-
recruitment potential), preventing analysts from leveraging supporting bots were identified out of 18,500 accounts
leaks like location data. studied.18 These bots “amplify apparent support” for
ISIS on Twitter and other social media sites by
CHALLENGES POSED BY SOCIAL MEDIA promoting ISIS content.18 They may do this by “liking,”
“sharing,” or leaving positive comments on pro-ISIS
posts. This can mislead analysts into believing that

S
ocial media makes the challenges posed by the Internet
as a source of OSINT even more problematic. there is more support for the organization than there
However, these challenges can be mitigated, as truly is, which frustrates their ability to develop
discussed in the conclusion of this article. informed estimates and expectations for the future.

Exacerbates the Problem of Signals to Noise New Avenues for Deception in Communication

With so many social networking sites, and so many Social media makes the mission of intelligence analysts more
individuals on each of these sites, social media certainly difficult by providing new avenues for members of terrorist
adds to the dilemma of sifting through all of the information organizations to communicate with one another without
available. The user counts on Facebook have surpassed one detection by the law enforcement or intelligence
billion,1 and Twitter user counts average 307 million.2 In this communities. For example, ISIS utilizes the secure mobile
way, social media compounds the existing issue of messaging app Telegram, which offers a “secret chat” option
information overload that intelligence agencies face. It is with encrypted messages. The group’s call for an attack on
incredibly time-consuming, and also expensive, to filter Saudi and Emirati forces in Aden appeared on Telegram prior
through the wealth of information available. As Chris Pallaris to the incident on December 6, 2015.1 Additionally, terrorist
states, “the promises made by technology vendors, no organization members can communicate via gaming
matter how sincere, can not replace the enormous analytical platforms like Sony’s PlayStation 4. Members can send
effort that the wealth of OSINT requires from human messages through the PlayStation Network gaming service
beings.”10 or voice chat through these games.2 Members can also form
messages within the games—for example, by spelling out
Source of Disinformation for Intelligence Analysts words and sentences with bullets on a wall—which other
players online can see.3 It is difficult for analysts to monitor
Not only can adversaries choose to go offline and cut off so many systems, and communication modes like the latter
collectors from gathering information online, but they can example of forming messages within games would be nearly
also mislead intelligence agencies by what they put on social impossible to track.
media. “Bots” and apps have been used as part of
propaganda techniques for a long time. Bots are algorithms, CONCLUSION
or automated programs, which act in social media networks.1
They can search for keywords and post replies or comments

O
verall, the use of social media has increased
with the messages they seek to promote, and they look like a tremendously within the last decade among the
real user to outsiders.38 Bots can be used to influence public general public as well as by terrorist organizations.
opinion by spamming the news feed, thus influencing what In the coming years, social media is expected to become
is “trending.” For example, governments used “bots” during increasingly important, as constant connectivity to the

Vol 33, No 2, 2016 Page 98 American Intelligence Journal

This content downloaded from


168.195.52.137 on Sun, 24 Mar 2024 16:22:54 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Internet will become the norm. Access to the Internet via Accessed 2016. http://mashable.com/2014/04/15/aim-history/
mobile devices has surpassed access to the Internet via #M4M6nze3Egq9. Hendricks, Drew. “Complete History of Social
desktop computers. Products like the Google Glass and the Media: Then and Now.” Small Business Trends. May 8, 2013.
new Tesla Model S (which has a dashboard with touch- Accessed 2016. http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/05/the-complete-
history-of-social-media-infographic.html.
screen browser) are expected to dominate the markets. 2
Bonifield, John. “One Year Later, Your ALS Ice Bucket Money
Social media is also becoming more important as a marketing Goes to ... – CNN.com.” CNN. July 15, 2015. Accessed 2016.
tool, and this is expected to continue as well.4 http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/15/health/one-summer-after-the-als-
ice-bucket- challenge/.
At present, only 1% of the intelligence budget is allocated 3
“Social Networking as a Paradigm Shift in Tactical Intelligence
toward handling Open Source Intelligence. More resources Collection.” In Mediterranean Council for Intelligence Studies
should go into tracking and analyzing the information Yearbook, edited by John Nomikos, 28-29. Alimos, Athens,
available via social media because it expands the capabilities Greece: Research Institute for European and American Studies,
of using OSINT greatly, and because exploiting the social 2012.
4
Robert David Steele mentions that, although much of the
media activity of terrorist organizations and members can
information collectors need is online, it is often in 183 languages
help to predict and counter their activities. that we do not speak.
5
“Open Source Intelligence: A Strategic Enabler of National
Our agencies should invest specifically in designing Security.” CSS Analyses in Security Policy, 2008.
predictive models that filter through relevant metadata to 6
Berghel, Hal. “Robert David Steele on OSINT.” Computer,
anticipate major attacks and mass uprisings. Additionally, 2014, 76.
7
they should invest in programs and “bots” that can frustrate “Total Number of Websites.” Internet Live Stats. Accessed
terrorist organizations’ ability to recruit new members, November 1, 2015. http://www.internetlivestats.com/total-
because technological fixes like this can yield greater returns number-of-websites/.
8
Gibson, S.D. (July 2007). Open Source Intelligence: A
than increasing the number of human analysts working with
Contemporary Intelligence Lifeline (doctoral dissertation).
OSINT alone. This may be done by injecting “noise” or Retrieved from phibetaiota.net.
disruption into social media streams, for example. Agencies 9
Omand, David, Jamie Bartlett, and Carl Miller. “Introducing
should also increase the number of analysts monitoring Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT).” Intelligence and National
social media and OSINT in general, since human analysis is Security, 2012, 802.
10
necessary even with data-crunching tools. Byrne, Brian Patrick. “‘They Are Shooting People One By One’
– Inside Paris Concert Hall.” Vocativ. November 13, 2015.
Analysts should also be prepared to ensure that new Accessed December 5, 2015. http://www.vocativ.com/news/
technologies such as gaming systems do not slip under the 250374/theyre-shooting-people-paris-hostages-post-cries-for-
help/. This example demonstrates that social media can be useful
radar when it comes to monitoring Internet activity of U.S.
to law enforcement in the midst of or in the aftermath of an attack,
adversaries. not only to intelligence analysts. On November 13, 2015, a series
of coordinated terrorist attacks led by the Islamic State of Iraq and
Many policymakers have urged social media companies to the Levant (ISIL) occurred in Paris. These consisted of suicide
block ISIS and other terrorist organization accounts.5 I bombings and mass shootings. The deadliest attack was at the
recommend against using tech giants to intervene digitally Bataclan Theatre, where hostages were taken and 89 individuals
because terrorist organizations are likely to improvise new were killed at the theatre, and a total of 129 individuals in all of the
methods of recruitment and propaganda distribution that are attacks. Throughout the attack, individuals Tweeted updates about
even more difficult for us to monitor than existing ones. the situation, posted videos of real-time events, and pleaded for
help. Police and authorities were able to “build up a picture of the
Government officials should be especially cognizant of
situation on the ground in real-time” from these postings. As
information they post on social media platforms, as anything hostages, these individuals were in a unique position to share
derogatory or offensive may be reappropriated into information with the outside world that was only accessible to
propaganda and used to aid in recruitment. them.
11
Speri, Alice. “ISIS Fighters and Their Friends Are Total Social
Given the low cost of obtaining information from the Media Pros | VICE News.” VICE News RSS. June 17, 2014.
Internet, any investment in OSINT (and specifically social Accessed December 1, 2015. https://news.vice.com/article/isis-
media) capabilities would go toward analysis and analytical fighters-and-their-friends-are-total-social-media-pros.
12
tools rather than collection. This can ensure that the Nolan, Markham. “ISIS Supporters Have More Twitter
Followers Than You.” Vocativ. March 6, 2015. Accessed
information on social media is leveraged to its fullest
December 1, 2015. http://www.vocativ.com/world/isis-2/isis-
potential to aid in thwarting terrorist activities. twitter-census/.
13
Berger, J.M. and J. Morgan. (March 2015). The ISIS Twitter
NOTES Census (analysis paper). Retrieved from Brookings Institution.
1
Abbruzzese, Jason. “The Rise and Fall of AIM, the 14
“Hashtag Terror: How ISIS Manipulates Social Media.” Anti-
Breakthrough AOL Never Wanted.” Mashable. April 15, 2014. Defamation League. July 11, 2014. Accessed December 1, 2015.

American Intelligence Journal Page 99 Vol 33, No 2, 2016

This content downloaded from


168.195.52.137 on Sun, 24 Mar 2024 16:22:54 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
29
http://www.adl.org/combating-hate/international-extremism- Ball, Phillip. “News Mining Might Have Predicted Arab
terrorism/c/isis- islamic-state-social-media.html?referrer=https:// Spring.” Nature.com. September 13, 2011. Accessed December 1,
www.google.com/#.Vmdmld-rT-Y. 2015. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110913/full/
15
Hoffman, Mike. “US Air Force Targets and Destroys ISIS HQ news.2011.532.html.
30
Building Using Social Media.” Defense Tech. June 3, 2015. Gassebner, M., and N.F. Campos. (March 2009). International
Accessed December 1, 2015. http://defensetech.org/2015/06/03/us- Terrorism, Political Instability and the Escalation Effect (paper).
air-force-targets-and-destroys-isis-hq-building-using-social-media/. Retrieved from ETH Zurich and KOF
16 31
Callimachi, Rukmini. “ISIS and the Lonely Young American.” “Facebook: Monthly Active Users 2015 | Statistic.” Statista.
The New York Times. June 27, 2015. Accessed December 1, 2015. 2015. Accessed November 15, 2015. http://www.statista.com/
Alex began learning about Islam through ISIS members who statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-
communicated with her regularly online. They urged her to keep worldwide/.
32
their conversations a secret and to lead a double life, pretending to “Twitter: Number of Monthly Active Users 2015 | Statistic.”
be Christian. ISIS members collectively spent thousands of hours Statista. 2015. Accessed November 15, 2015. http://
communicating with her over the course of six months, and sent www.statista.com/statistics/282087/number-of-monthly-active-
her gifts such as chocolates and Islamic books as well. twitter-users/.
17 33
Lu, Alicia. “Bustle.” Bustle. September 18, 2014. Accessed Finger, Lutz. “Do Evil- The Business of Social Media Bots.”
December 1, 2015. http://www.bustle.com/articles/40535-how- Forbes. February 17, 2015. Accessed December 1, 2015. http://
does-isis-recruit-exactly-its-techniques-are-ruthless-terrifying-and- www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2015/02/17/do-evil-the-business-
efficient. of-social-media-bots/.
18 34
Suppelsa, Mark. “Photo Implies ISIS Threat to Chicago.” Berger, J.M. “The Evolution of Terrorist Propaganda: The Paris
WGNTV. August 21, 2014. Accessed December 5, 2015. http:// Attack and Social Media.” The Brookings Institution. January 27,
wgntv.com/2014/08/21/photo-implies-isis-threat-to-chicago/. 2015. Accessed December 4, 2015. http://www.brookings.edu/
19
“Al I’tisaam Media ISIS Propaganda Giving out Food.” research/testimony/2015/01/27-terrorist-propaganda-social-media-
YouTube. 2013. Accessed December 5, 2015. https:// berger.
35
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ascy5oXIbo4. “IS Exploits Telegram Mobile App to Spread Propaganda –
20
Pfeffer, Anshel. “French Intel Predicted Paris Attack, but Got BBC News.” BBC News. October 7, 2015. Accessed December 4,
the Timing Wrong.” Haaretz.com. November 17, 2015. Accessed 2015. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34466287.
36
December 1, 2015. http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/ Tassi, Paul. “How ISIS Terrorists May Have Used PlayStation
.premium- 1.686609. 4 to Discuss and Plan Attacks.” Forbes. November 14, 2015.
21
Shapiro, Jeremy, and Daniel Byman. “We Shouldn’t Stop Accessed December 4, 2015. http://www.forbes.com/sites/
Terrorists from Tweeting.” The Washington Post. October 9, insertcoin/2015/11/14/why-the-paris-isis-terrorists-used-ps4-to-
2014. Accessed December 1, 2015. https:// plan-attacks/.
37
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/we-shouldnt-stop-terrorists- Neagle, Colin. “How ISIS Could Use PlayStation 4, Encrypted
from-tweeting/2014/10/09/106939b6-4d9f-11e4-8c24- Messaging to Communicate.” Network World. November 16,
487e92bc997b_story.html. 2015. Accessed December 4, 2015. http://
22
“We Built a Model That Could Have Predicted the Paris www.networkworld.com/article/3005364/security/how-isis-uses-
Attacks. Here’s How.” Medium. November 20, 2015. Accessed video-games-playstation-4-messaging-apps-to-evade-
December 1, 2015. https://medium.com/@predata/we-built-a- surveillance.html.
38
model-that-predicted-the-paris-attacks-here-s-how- Marentis, Chris. “5 Predictions for the Future of Social Media.”
8141934b4abe#.lceboe57u. IMediaConnection.com. May 12, 2014. Accessed December 4,
23
Campos, Nauro F., and Martin Gassebner. “International 2015. http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/
Terrorism, Domestic Political Instability, and the Escalation 36458.asp#singleview.
39
Effect.” Economics & Politics 25, no. 1 (2013): 27-47. Sanger, David. “Hillary Clinton Urges Silicon Valley to
24
“An Exhaustive Study of Twitter Users Across the World – ‘Disrupt’ ISIS.” The New York Times. December 6, 2015.
Social Media Analytics | Beevolve.” Social Media Analytics. Accessed December 15, 2015.
October 10, 2012. Accessed December 1, 2015. http://
temp.beevolve.com/twitter-statistics/. Sofia Charania is a senior at Princeton University, majoring
25
“What Is the Influence of ‘Root Causes’?” Republic of Turkey in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2011. Accessed December 5, 2015. Affairs and minoring in Persian Language and Culture. She is
http://www.mfa.gov.tr/what-is-the-influence-of-_root-
interested in the Intelligence Community, and in studying the
causes__.en.mfa.
26
Christensen, Christian. “Twitter Revolutions? Addressing Social ways in which medicine and medical professionals can be used
Media and Dissent.” The Communication Review 14, no. 3 (2011): to further the U.S.’s international service initiatives. She
155-57. hopes to study these topics at the graduate level post-
27
“Social Networking as a Paradigm Shift in Tactical Intelligence graduation, and to use her foreign language capabilities
Collection.” In Mediterranean Council for Intelligence Studies within this context. This article is based on the subject of her
Yearbook, edited by John Nomikos, 28-29. Alimos, Athens, junior thesis.
Greece: Research Institute for European and American Studies,
2012.
28
Goodwin, Jeff. “Why We Were Surprised (Again) by the Arab
Spring.” Swiss Political Science Review 17, no. 4 (2011): 452-56.

Vol 33, No 2, 2016 Page 100 American Intelligence Journal

This content downloaded from


168.195.52.137 on Sun, 24 Mar 2024 16:22:54 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

You might also like