ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the movement’s Dark Web use for recruitment purposes and for directing and inspiring attacks. It discusses the role that the late Islamic State’s (IS) spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani played in crafting its terror-media strategy. The chapter examines the caliphate’s use of encrypted technology to direct, virtually guide, and inspire attacks. It assesses Western efforts to disrupt, degrade, and destroy the jihadist movement’s virtual network including countering violent extremism approaches. The IS’s sophisticated propaganda operations can be traced back to its progenitor, Al Qaeda in Iraq. Adnani predicts that the caliphate is divinely ordained to triumph. Referencing Islamic eschatology he urges European and North American Muslims to assault Westerners. The terrorists involved were trained in Syria and were dispatched to sow chaos in Europe with some transiting through Balkan refugee migrant routes with forged passports. The caliphate trains, finances, and dispatches attack teams and guides their targeting. The Paris and Brussels attacks are exemplars of IS directed operations.