Nothing Virtual About It: An Emerging Safe Haven for an Adaptive Enemy

While it is no secret that Islamic terrorists utilize the internet, the assertion that the internet is a virtual safe haven more important than any geographical safe haven is rarely made. As a result of the expansion of the Internet capabilities over the last two decades and the loss and disruption of geographic safe havens worldwide, Islamic terrorists are now becoming all the more reliant upon the internet as a safe haven from which to recruit, finance, communicate, train, and survive to continue to conduct operations and further their cause. An examination of the geographical safe havens, the emergence of the Internet in warfare, and the adaptation of Al Qa'ida following 9/11, reveals how Al Qa'ida and other Islamic terrorist organizations have grown dependent on the Internet. A comparison between the capabilities that the Internet's cyberspace offers and what a geographic safe haven can provide suggests that in some functions the Internet is more effective and safer than physical space for Al Qa'ida and its affiliates. These conclusions lead to a discussion that the United States is ignoring a very real front in its efforts to "disrupt, dismantle, and defeat" al Qa'ida and its affiliates, Islamic terrorists enjoy operating on the internet with minimal disruption and risk to accomplish many of the same tasks that used to require geographical space to conduct.

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