What does it take to motivate a US citizen to engage in atrocities on behalf of a militant group over 6,000 miles away?
As our country grapples with the growing risk of homegrown jihadists, key questions remain about how these individuals are recruited, what motivates them to "activate," and what we should be doing to stop it.
Traditional jihadist organizations, like Al Qaeda or Hamas, used to spend months evaluating and cultivating potential recruits.
These handlers would go to mosques, universities, and community centers to identify people with the right traits and qualifications, and then they would embed themselves in their lives, learning everything they could about their backgrounds, interests, passions, strengths, and weaknesses.
There are lengthy jihadist manuals dedicated to the process of recruiting "holy warriors" — they describe in meticulous detail the need to choose the right recruit, properly develop this person, and lead him or her to the path of jihad.
While many of these groups around the world still use this process, the rise of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has created a dangerous new "fast track" for would-be jihadists. Using social media, ISIS is able to spread its propaganda to a broader audience and lay the foundation for radicalization among citizens in Western countries. Recruitments that used to take place in person or via elaborate cloak-and-dagger methods on the web now occur quickly over social media.
To be clear, ISIS is not advanced when it comes to technology. What distinguishes ISIS is that it has embraced technology in a way that few groups before it have. This technological foundation has given it a larger pool of candidates to draw from, made the organization more appealing to young people, and driven its message deep into Western societies in a way that would have been impossible just a few years ago.
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For the past nine years, I have studied the online activities of jihadist groups such as Al Qaeda, Al Shabaab, Nusra Front, Hamas, and ISIS. I have watched these operations evolve from private discussion forums on the backwaters of the web to the massive social-media propaganda campaigns that are being launched today. Over the years, I have infiltrated a number of these forums, cultivated hundreds of jihadist followers on social-media channels and created over 50 fake jihadist personalities (i.e., "sock puppets") to see how they would be recruited.
What I have found from my own attempted recruitments is that jihadists are breaking down the barriers to joining their organizations, they are focused on franchising jihad instead of "owning" it, and they're playing a numbers game that is making security at home far more difficult than in years' past.
Who reaches out first?
It is more common these days for volunteers to contact ISIS handlers directly, rather than the other way around. In the past, handlers used to have to go out and hunt for good candidates, then spend months leading them down the path to jihad.
Now wannabe jihadists come right to them — in many cases, they have already self-radicalized thanks to the online propaganda campaigns, and they do not need as much catering to do the terrorist group's bidding.
How does a social-media recruitment actually work?
A typical recruitment starts over Twitter or Facebook, with a friend request to one of the jihadist propagandists — these are the people who are constantly promoting the cause via war videos and photos, messages from leaders, prayer calls, etc.
At that point, the wannabe jihadist will most likely send this individual a direct message and ask how to get more involved. The administrator of the account might ask the person a few initial questions (such as why you are reaching out, what your religious background is, etc.) but will quickly hand it off to another person — one of the dedicated recruiters.
The recruiter then contacts the volunteer directly over the same social-media channel (and may supplement this later on over PGP-encrypted email or IRC chat) and begins the process. It will start with some initial questions, such as the ones mentioned above, but then it will quickly progress into a more detailed survey of who the person is, what other social-media accounts the person has, what the person's views are on world affairs, and how knowledgeable the person is about Islam (the person will be quizzed on key elements of the religion).
While the process is much easier for recruits than in past years, multiple handlers evaluate and screen the target before making any important decisions. During the questioning process, the original handler will pass the person off to at least one, and probably two, other recruiters who will examine the person's background, motivations, and capabilities.
ISIS recruiters aren't as picky about their recruits as traditional jihadists were, so what they're trying to determine with the interview process is whether the person is a spy and how useful he or she may actually be.
Skype is required
Before these conversations get too far along, however, the handler will insist that the person engage in a video call, usually over Skype.
This is an important test for ISIS, as it reduces the risk of imposters and gives the group more leverage over the recruit as it now has him or her fully identified.
'Doxing'
Recruits probably will not realize it, but as soon as they start talking to an ISIS handler, he or she will "dox" them, creating a dossier that includes all of their online accounts, their friends and connections, family, posts they've made in the past, their current location, job, school/military/government background, etc.
This information is most likely used by the organization to weed out imposters, determine whether the candidate would be able to recruit others, and have leverage over the person later on if needed.
Personality types they are looking for
Prior to ISIS, jihadist groups were very selective in how they targeted potential recruits. For instance, Al Qaeda's manuals advise recruiters to seek out strong candidates with key characteristics: leadership abilities, a positive and healthy disposition, a good family, lots of friends, financial stability, generosity, and a clear sense of purpose. They also warn against people who are loners, stingy or "excessive talkers.'
While ISIS still follows these guidelines to some extent, the group does not exclude people just because they have undesirable characteristics.
The 2nd path for recruits
ISIS still recruits traditional jihadists who will become foreign fighters, fundraisers, recruiters, and traffickers, and subsequently require some level of screening, but it has also created a second path that requires no real scrutiny at all: the "lone wolf."
Much has been said recently about the lone-wolf threat, but this position is essentially at the bottom of the jihadist hierarchy. It requires no skills or experience and anyone can participate, even undesirables.
ISIS may celebrate their attacks, or encourage them on Twitter, but they have no ties to the organization and are basically seen as cannon fodder for the cause. It doesn’t matter if their self-styled missions succeed or fail, only that they happen. Their deaths have no impact on the organization.
How long does it take to recruit?
Al Qaeda recruitment manuals recommend at least three to four months of developing effective jihadists, but ISIS does not follow that playbook.
Its interview process is more like a fast-food version of Al Qaeda's, and subsequently it can recruit and activate people in as little as one to two weeks.
ISIS' online capabilities exaggerated
It would not be difficult for the US to shut down much of ISIS' online operations, such as its social-media accounts, online forums, and Tor servers. It hasn't, however, because intelligence and law-enforcement agencies are using these accounts to gather intel about the group's operations and structure.
All of ISIS' online accounts are heavily infiltrated by the intel community, law enforcement, private security firms, and journalists. Subsequently, any estimate of the group's online support (like the government's recent estimate that it had 90,000 Twitter followers) is likely to be inflated.
Jeff Bardin is the chief intelligence officer of Treadstone 71.
