Counter-Terrorism: The Special Forces Scrutinize Facebook
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After years of informally using social networking sites and Internet activity in general to find, monitor and sometimes manipulate terrorist suspects, U.S. SOCOM (Special Operations Command) revealed in recent Congressional hearings that this is becoming a more formal technique. This will involve custom software for more effectively searching social media and training SOCOM personnel in how best to handle potentially useful information.
According to a report in Strategy Page, the drive will consist of using the cultural and language skills of Special Forces operators to more effectively seek out and evaluate terrorist threats. The Special Forces has one of the largest collections of experienced counter-terrorism operators who know the culture and languages of areas where there is a lot of Islamic terrorist activity.
These soldiers have spent years learning about cultures and languages and honed that knowledge by actually operating in those areas, so in addition to combat missions, Special Forces are provide insight, advice and training for local forces in their own language. The CIA has long seen Special Forces as a primary source of expert analysts and field operatives.
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Social networking sites and Internet activity has long been a major source of information for intelligence and police agencies. There is an irony in this because sites like Facebook and Twitter are also hailed as catalysts for revolution and social change. While that’s true, these sites have also been a big help to those seeking to detect and prevent criminal behavior.
Counterterrorism experts told i-HLS this initiative may have consequences in dictatorships, where the police and intel groups can use data gathering and analysis tools (developed for marketing via the Internet) to find people who are protesting or rebelling against the government. Even if these Facebook users are using codes and pseudonyms to remain hidden, the scanning and analysis tools can often uncover them.
Twitter traffic can also be analyzed for useful information on who is doing what and where they are. Social networking sites are thus a double edged sword. They can be used to organize, inform, and mobilize large groups. Islamic terror groups advise their members to avoid social networking sites, but that has proved hard to enforce. Social networking was designed to be alluring, as well as useful, especially to the young. For young revolutionaries, this can be a fatal attraction.
