ISIS Is Getting Smarter About Avoiding U.S. Surveillance -- Daily Signal

Social media can be a double-edged sword for terrorists groups such as ISIS, a fact that its leadership appears to be aware of.

According to recent reports, the group’s top cadre has curtailed electronic communications, hoping to shrink its footprint and exposure to western intelligence agencies. A terrorist group of the 21st century, ISIS is adept at the use of social media, producing “cruelly effective” propaganda, as retired Marine Corps Gen. John Allen has put it. Yet, that same propaganda also has provided a wealth of information for the U.S. and other governments.

As reported by The Daily Beast’s Shane Harris, who cited U.S. intelligence sources, ISIS is changing its “communications strategy.” It is encrypting its electronic communications, limiting its online presence and using services that delete messages as soon as they are sent. Its top cadre uses couriers rather than electronic devices to deliver orders, making them elusive in the U.S.-led surveillance campaign. As human intelligence is hardly available on the ground, especially in Syria, and the number of unmanned drones is limited, cyber surveillance has been a key tool in the fight against ISIS.

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My Comment: The Islamic State is lucky that the U.S. does not have intelligence assets on the ground .... but I am sure that this is going to change with time. As to using couriers .... this method of communications can only go so far.