RadicalizationProcess of radicalization is becoming more complex: Experts
Officials and security experts have been to determine what could have led Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik to become radicalized and when, and over what period, the process of radicalization took place.“I think the face of radicalization has changed,” said one expert. “It’s a hybrid now — a hybrid, robust network to mobilize people to action to commit acts of violence under the banner of compelling narratives.”
Radical footsoldiers awaiting orders // Source: fbi.gov
Officials and security experts have been to determine what could have led Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik to become radicalized and when, and over what period, the process of radicalization took place.
The FBI says that the two were not affiliated with any terror organization and acted independently, inspired by ideological messages and postings disseminated by ISIS on line.
The San Bernardino Sun reports that terrorism and radicalization experts say that the process of becoming true believers, to the point of willingness to sacrifice one’s life, is becoming more complicated.
“I think the face of radicalization has changed,” counterterrorism expert Scott Mann, a former Green Beret and retired lieutenant colonel, told the Sun. “It’s a hybrid now — a hybrid, robust network to mobilize people to action to commit acts of violence under the banner of compelling narratives.”
U.S. law enforcement agencies believe the couple was radicalized individually, before they met, as far back as 2013. It is for this reason that they are trying to find out whether they had contact with Sohiel Omar Kabir of Pomona, Ralph Deleon of Ontario, Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales of Upland, and Arifeen David Gojali of Riverside – five would-be terrorists who were convicted in 2012 of conspiring to travel overseas to Afghanistan and join al-Qaeda to commit violent jihad against American military forces.
These men were radicalized through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, terrorist propaganda magazines Inspire, and the teachings of al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki.
The FBI found that Malik pledged her allegiance to ISIS the day before the attack, but the agency believes she became radicalized before the Islamic State rose to prominence in 2014.
Mann notes that recruitment usually begins with personal interactions. In the 2012 case, the defendants met in a mosque before hanging out at a hookah bar. Digital platforms are also gaining in influence since they are very efficient in disseminating extremist Islam propaganda as well as direct recruitment instructions.
“We can’t underscore the significance of the online digital storytelling that is taking place. They tell us exactly what their strategy is and what they intend to do,” Mann said, pointing to the professionally produced ISIS video “No Respite,” which spelled out its mission as a recruitment tool.
He further explained that the terror organizations have networks all over the world. The terrorists are looking for a certain profile of an individual who is a ticked off, disaffected, marginalized youth. When the spotter makes contact with a prospect, he starts to reel him in to the world of the terror.
Criminologist Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, told the Sun that there is no one single method of recruitment, a process which is usually multipronged. ISIS’s effective recruiting campaign makes for alarming reading. About 40 percent of new recruits to ISIS are converts and their average age is 27, while one in six of new ISIS recruits is a woman.
