Hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee - Terrorism Gone Viral: Garland, Texas and Beyond

Hearing

Just yesterday in Boston, reports are emerging that Usaama Rahim, who was killed by federal law
enforcement officers after lunging at them with a knife, was being investigated by the Boston Joint
Terrorism Task Force after communicating with and spreading ISIS propaganda online. Known
associates of Rahim are also being arrested. These cases are a reminder of the dangers posed by
individuals radicalized through social media.

In Garland one month ago, Elton Simpson fired off a series of tweets declaring his loyalty to the Islamic
State and urging others to do the same. Simpson included a hashtag "TexasAttack"--previewing his
decision to terrorize the Prophet Mohammad cartoon contest that Islamists on social media had singled
out as a target. In his final tweet sent minutes before the attack, Simpson told his followers to follow
Junaid Hussain, a 20-year old British foreign fighter embedded with ISIS in Syria and one of the group's
top recruiters who has been linked to the CENTCOM Twitter hack in January of this year.

Hussain was quick to praise the Garland attack and issued a warning that same night: "The knives have
been sharpened; soon we will come to your streets with death and slaughter!" This attack exemplifies a
new era in which terrorism has gone viral.

Extremists issued a "call to arms" to attack an event, a radicalized follower clearly heeded that call, and
he took steps to make sure his act of violence would spread and motivate more. Social media networks
have become an extension of the Islamist terror battlefields overseas, turning homegrown extremists into
sleeper operatives and attackers.

The proliferation of jihadist propaganda online has established a new front in our battle against Islamist
extremists. We are no longer hunting terrorists living in caves who only communicate through couriers.
We are facing an enemy whose messages and calls to violence are posted and promoted in real-time.
For example, last month, the threat level at military bases across the country was elevated after ISIS
supporters posted the names of individuals serving in the military online and quickly spread on social
media.

Aspiring fanatics can receive updates from hardcore extremists on the ground in Syria via Twitter, watch
ISIS bloodlust on YouTube, view jihadi selfies on Instagram, read religious justifications for murder on
JustPasteIt, and find travel guides to the battlefield on Ask.fm. Jihadi recruiters are mastering the ability
to monitor, and prey upon, Western youth susceptible to the twisted message of Islamist terror. They
seek out curious users who have questions about Islam or want to know what life is like in the so-called
Islamic State. They engage, establish bonds of trust, and assess the commitment of their potential
recruits.

From there, extremists direct users to continue the conversation on more secure apps, where secure
communication hides their messages from our intelligence agencies. Such communications can include
advice for traveling to terror safe havens, contact information for smugglers in Turkey, or the
membership process for joining ISIS itself.

I know the officials appearing before us today are disturbed by these trends. Mobile apps like Kik and
WhatsApp--as well as data-destroying apps like Wickr and Surespot--are allowing extremists to
communicate outside of the view of law enforcement. Equally as worrisome are ISIS attempts to use the
"Dark" or "Deep Web."

These websites hide IP addresses and cannot be reached by search engines, giving terrorists another
covert means by which they can recruit fighters, share intelligence, raise funds, and potentially plot and
direct attacks undetected.

ISIS tailors its message for specific audiences around the globe and, in doing so, projects power far
beyond its growing safe havens by amplifying its battlefield successes and winning over new converts
across the world. Its media sophistication helps legitimize its self-proclaimed Caliphate and its perverse
interpretation of Islam.

This stands in stark contrast to al Qaeda's past outreach, which relied on tightly controlled, top-down
messaging and propaganda more difficult for aspiring jihadists to find. Today, ISIS is instead taking a
"grassroots" approach to terror, seeding its repressive worldview from the ground up.

From digital magazines to online videos that glorify barbaric murder, ISIS is using its multi-platform
engagement to create a jihadi subculture that supports its violent ideology and encourages attacks
against the United States and its allies. Their tactics are a sea change for spreading terror, and they
require from us a paradigm shift in our counterterrorism intelligence and operations.

For example, we can start by doing what FBI Director Comey suggested--"shaking [the] trees more
aggressively"--to quickly identify and engage potential homegrown jihadis. But this is a dynamic new
front in the war against Islamist terror, and it will require a new approach with a heavy focus on the
ideological battle space.

I am grateful to have three witnesses today that are dealing firsthand with how terror is going viral. I
look forward to hearing their testimony and recommendations for confronting this challenge.

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