Beginning of the Age of Bioterrorism | DHS Air Cargo Security | Last Days of Osama Bin Laden, and more

The Last Days of Osama Bin Laden  (Peter Bergen, Wall Street Journal)
In the first weeks of 2011, Osama bin Laden was worried. For five years, he had concealed himself and his extended family—wives, children and grandchildren—in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, but now it appeared that his carefully constructed hideaway was coming apart. His longtime bodyguards were two brothers, members of al Qaeda whose family originated nearby. They did everything for bin Laden, from shopping in the local markets to hand delivering his lengthy memos to other leaders of al Qaeda. But bin Laden’s bodyguards had become fed up with the risks that came with protecting and serving the world’s most wanted man. Bin Laden confided to one of his wives that the brothers were “getting exhausted” and planned to quit. Things got so bad that on January 15, he wrote a formal letter to them, despite the fact that they all lived together, acknowledging how angry they were with him and begging them to give him time to find new protectors and a new hideout (the compound was registered in the name of one of the brothers). He set down in writing that they had agreed to separate by mid-July. Bin Laden never did find a new hiding place, however.

Call to Shut Down Swedish Islamic School over ‘Link to Extremism’  (Tim Stickings, The National)
An Islamic school in Sweden should be shut down because of its “connection to extremism”, a member of the country’s Parliament has said. The Romosseskolan school, in the south-western city of Gothenburg, attracted criticism after it was accused of gender segregation in lessons and forcing pupils to take part in prayer sessions. After public funding for the school was halted in June, a report surfaced this week that teachers were being paid by a group linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. Responding to the claim, Roger Haddad, the deputy chair of an education committee in Sweden’s Parliament, said it was time for the school to be shut down altogether. “I have demanded for several years that Romosseskolan with its connection to extremism be completely closed down,” he said. “It is not enough to investigate the financial position, the whole operation must be stopped.” The city of Gothenburg halted funding for the school in June, saying it wanted to prevent public money from falling into the wrong hands. But according to city newspaper Göteborgs-Posten, teachers were paid regardless, with money from the Islamic Association of Sweden (IFiS). Magnus Ranstorp, an extremism expert at the Swedish Defence University, described IFiS as a hub for the Muslim Brotherhood in Sweden.

‘Domestic Extremism’ Is Greatest Terror Threat Facing Us, Says DHS Secretary Mayorkas  (Cammy Pedroja, Newsweek)
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas said Monday the most significant terror threat the United States faces currently is from within the nation’s own borders. Mayorkas, who appeared on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, on Monday was asked by Mitchell if “as a result of the January 6 attack” his department was doing enough to identify extremists domestically. “We are very focused on this, this is one of our highest priorities,” Mayorkas answered. “Domestic violent extremism is the greatest terrorist-related threat we face on the homeland.” Mayorkas went on to identify DHS’s creation of the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnership (CP3) as a major step in fighting domestic terrorism, citing more than $77 billion in grant funding given over to “address this really great threat.” Mayorkas took aim at some of the domestic terror groups Mitchell brought up in the interview, including QAnon and the Proud Boys. “I think there’s one thing, a very important thing, that the American public should know—that these are not really well-organized groups that are hierarchical in nature as one might think of a terrorist organization in the foreign terrorist traditional sense,” Mayorkas said.

Online Communications, Real Life Consequences  (Counterterror Business)
The advent of social media has been a boon for global terror. Terrorist groups use social media in myriad ways, from fundraising, radicalization, and recruitment, to issuing threats, inciting violence, and planning attacks. Indeed, extremists’ rapid adoption of major tech platforms has been critical to the organization, expansion, and success of terrorist networks. The results, as we all know, have been devastating. In 2019, far-right gunmen in Christchurch, New Zealand and El Paso, Texas killed 74 people between them. Both had been radicalized in online extremist echo-chambers where their attacks were subsequently celebrated by others. While the global pandemic provided scant opportunity for atrocities on this scale in the years that followed, terrorism officials across Europe and America have repeatedly warned that they are likely to resume as society begins to reopen. In the face of this coming crisis, there is at least some positive news to report. The first half of 2021 has been an historically busy period for online counterterrorism legislation. In May, the UK Government unveiled the first draft of its Online Safety Bill, a landmark item of legislation that will allow the Office of Communications to fine major platforms up to £18 million for failing to remove harmful content.

Jihadists Flood Pro-Trump Social Network with Propaganda  (Mark Scott and Tim Nguyen, Politico)
Just weeks after its launch, the pro-Trump social network GETTR is inundated with terrorist propaganda spread by supporters of Islamic State, according to a POLITICO review of online activity on the fledgling platform. The social network — started a month ago by members of former President Donald Trump’s inner circle — features reams of jihadi-related material, including graphic videos of beheadings, viral memes that promote violence against the West and even memes of a militant executing Trump in an orange jumpsuit similar to those used in Guantanamo Bay. The rapid proliferation of such material is placing GETTR in the awkward position of providing a safe haven for jihadi extremists online as it attempts to establish itself as a free speech MAGA-alternative to sites like Facebook and Twitter.