Separatist, Para-military, Military, Intelligence,
and Political Organizations
This is not a new phenomenon —
I have had some version of these pages since the
mid-to-late 1990s.
In 1998,
Maj. Gen. John Casciano, USAF director of intelligence,
said that most of the 30 top organizations then identified
as terrorists by the U.S. government had web pages and
used e-mail, and were "fairly well developed" at
using the Internet.
[Aviation Week and Space Technology,
13 July 1998, pp 67-70].
In late 2001,
Michael O'Brien, in his "Ask Mr. Protocol" column
(S/W Expert, Dec 2001, pp 15-19), said:
"It is trivially easy to find Web sites
operated directly by all parties
involved in current conflicts around
the world, or in some cases by their
supporters in more technologically
advanced areas."
In 2007, Bruce Riedel wrote
"According to one expert, there are at least 4,500
overtly jihadi web sites that dissiminate the message
of Al Qaeda."
From "Al Qaeda Strikes Back",
in Foreign Affairs, May/June 2007, pp 24-40.
Riedel's background:
29 years of service in the CIA,
National Intelligence Officer for Near East and South Asian
Affairs at the National Intelligence Council (1993-1995),
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Near East
and South Asian Affairs (1995-1997),
Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director
for Near East Affairs on the National Security Council
(1997-2002).
In May 2007,
members of a U.S. Senate committee said that extremists
are increasingly using the Internet to
"recruit, organize, conduct online courses,
raise funds and plan attacks in a matter that's
cheaper and speedier than ever before."
Michael Doran, Deputy Assistant Secritary in the U.S. Defense
Department, said:
"The Internet...is more than just a tool of terrorist
organizations.
It is the primary repository of the essential resources for
sustaining the culture of terrorism."
See the U.S.A. page for more details on
these May 2007 announcements.
Sometimes the Internet presence seems to be the
organization itself,
sometimes it seems to be nothing but advocacy for or
against a cause by an individual or group,
and sometimes it is very difficult to tell just what
is going on.
As the Internet presence of groups has shifted from mostly
English to other languages (Arabic, Urdu, etc), this has
become impractical for me to maintain — if you have
any suggestions or corrections, please contact me.
And no, you do not have my permission
to put a copy of this on your web site.
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