by Jeff Halverson
In the war of ideas for the “hearts and minds” of the Muslim world, cultural diplomacy can go a long way. The US government may not be very popular abroad, but our cultural products certainly are. Many Muslims hate our policies, but they still love our movies, listen to our pop music, and [...]

by Steven R. Corman
In today’s Washington Post, Bruce Hoffman published an op-ed piece entitled “Al-Qaeda has a new strategy. Obama needs one, too.” I have a lot of respect for Hoffman and whatever he says about terrorism bears consideration. But in this case I’m not too sure what he’s driving at.
As evidence for the existence [...]

by Steven R. Corman
I ran across an interesting research article in the most recent issue of the Journal of Communication entitled “‘Carrying online participation offline’–Mobilization by radical online groups and politically dissimilar offline ties.”*
The study looks at neo-Nazis and radical environmentalists (NN/RE) in the West, but because it potentially sheds some light on similar practices [...]

by Jeffry Halverson
In the September 10 cover story on ForeignPolicy.com Jarret Brachman warns the Obama administration to pay careful attention to al-Qaeda’s new Libyan-born media darling, Abu Yahya al-Libi. He writes:
Whether he’s shown traipsing through valleys, target shooting with his buddies, reciting poetry on a mountaintop, or breaking bread with his students, Abu Yahya seems [...]

The Consortium for Strategic Communication has just released a new white paper entitled Out of Their Heads and Into Their Conversation: Countering Extremist Ideology by Angela Trethewey, Steven R. Corman and Bud Goodall. The complete paper can be downloaded at http://comops.org/article/123.pdf
Executive Summary
Ideology is often ignored or deemed irrelevant to strategic communication because it is [...]

by Chris Lundry
In the aftermath of the 17 July bombings at the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta, some interesting developments have emerged in Indonesia’s anti-terrorism efforts.
The incident has shattered the illusion that Indonesia was safe from the threat of terrorism following four years without a major terrorist incident.  It also led to some puzzling rhetoric from [...]

by Steven R. Corman
Yesterday Obama counterterrorism adviser John Brennan gave a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on the Obama Administration’s counterterrorism approach.  Patricia Kushlis titles her review of the speech “It’s Official: The Global War on Terror is Over.”

But it was official back in March/April, and unofficial stoppage of GWOT talk [...]

by Chris Lundry
As reported yesterday by some Indonesian media outlets, a new group calling itself Tandzim  al-Qo’idah Indonesia has released an ”official” statement taking responsibility for the Jakarta bombings of 17 July. There are some interesting elements in the statement, although whether it is genuine remains in question.
If true, the statement represents not only an admission of responsibility [...]

by Mark Woodward
On 17 July 17 2009, Indonesia and the world were shocked by another round of terrorist attacks. Two powerful bombs exploded in the J.W. Marriott and Ritz- Carlton hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia. Another was found and defused in a hotel room the bombers had rented. I am currently visiting Indonesia and have observed [...]

by Steven R. Corman
At last, the AP is reporting, someone is finally going to review our moronic “terror alert system” (TAS).
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to appoint a panel to reevaluate the system and determine whether it should be changed, or possibly eliminated.
Good for her.  The existing system, put in place shortly after [...]