|
By using the internet, terrorists can quickly and effectively
recruit, incite violence, transfer funds and even, organize attacks,
with relative freedom and secrecy across borders to an almost
limitless audience.
“But, their advantage is not absolute,”
said retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Keith W. Dayton, director of the
George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, a
German-American security and defense institute based in
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. “We can use the internet against
them.”
NEW, COMPLICATED WORLD FOR COUNTERTERRORISM
A team of eight experts from the U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation taught 33 participants from 23
countries how to bring the fight to the internet at the Marshall
Center’s global counterterrorism workshop on “Investigating
Terrorists Online” from November 27 to 30, 2017.
|
November 27, 2017 - Assistant Special Agent Christopher Serdinak, who is in charge of the counterterrorism program in Chicago for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, introduces his team of experts who will be teaching the necessary skills to bring the fight to the internet at the global counterterrorism workshop on “Investigating Terrorists Online” at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies
in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. (Marshall Center for Security
Studies photo by Karl-Heinz Wedhorn)
|
“Working investigations online is really the new world we live in
as counterterrorism professionals, and it’s very new and
complicated,” said Assistant Special Agent Christopher Serdinak, who
is in charge of the counterterrorism program in Chicago for the FBI.
“Counterterrorism experts around the world are trying to learn as
fast as they can, because it changes so rapidly.”
ARMING THE
COUNTERTERRORISM NETWORK
That’s why Serdinak, who is an
alumnus of the Marshall Center’s Program on Terrorism and Security
Studies, asked the PTSS Director Jim Howcroft if he could bring a
team of experts to teach how to target terrorists online to fellow
alumni and 13 legal attach�s from seven countries in the Balkans and
Eastern Europe, who routinely work with the FBI.
“Chris’
willingness and initiative to put a team together and teach the
latest techniques and tools to our partners around the world in the
fight against terrorism was a genius move,” said Howcroft. “This is
an evolving and important part of the counterterrorism fight that
most people do not know much about, and the FBI has the expertise to
teach us how to use this capability.”
Serdinak’s team was
included FBI agents, analysts and a legal attach� from his unit in
Chicago and FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
“My team are
very skilled in counterterrorism investigations,” Serdinak said.
“It’s their sole task, and they do it every day.”
COOPERATE
IN CYBERSPACE
Howcroft said the workshop provided an
atmosphere for the participants and FBI agents to discuss and
exchange ideas, best practices and recommendations on how to
investigate and take action against terrorists online.
“What
will we do here is explore ways to share and cooperate in cyberspace
to address this growing global and transnational problem,” said
Dayton at the beginning of the workshop. “By the time you leave
here, you will be equipped with knowledge and a renewed and expanded
network of partners you can turn to when you need advice or
assistance.”
Another important aspect of this workshop was that the
partner-nation, counterterrorism professionals got to meet and get
to know FBI agents, said Howcroft.
“This is important
because they will need to go through the FBI to access the social
media companies that are based in the United States, like Twitter,
Facebook and Google,” he said.
Interactive sessions dealt
with identifying derogatory social media accounts, current trends
and evolution of the online environment for recruitment and
racialization by the Islamic State, and how to conduct handoffs from
the FBI to foreign partners for targeting social media account
users.
“A lot of the information we shared was actual
technical skill, almost to the computer science level, like using
different social media platforms and encrypted apps frequently used
by terrorists,” Serdinak said.
ALREADY TREMENDOUS RESULTS
This information has already helped Ravindar Singh’s team
back in Malaysia.
“We only knew how to use Google to get
evidence and information, but after the first day here, I learned
from the FBI agents how to use different tools and devices to find
other activities, which are linked together,” said Singh, assistant
director of the Narcotic Intelligence with the Royal Malaysia
Police. “I called my team that night and told them about these new
devices, and I just heard from them that the results were
tremendous.” By Christine June, George C. Marshall Center for Security Studies
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2018
Comment on this article |
