The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee released a report titled "Violent Islamic Extremism, the Internet and Home-Grown Terrorist Threat" this week, the first in a series to be issued jointly by the majority and minority staff.  Among its findings is the disturbing conclusion that the federal government has "no cohesive and comprehensive outreach and communications strategy in place" to confront the growing threat of Internet-fueled homegrown Islamic extremist groups.

The study, put out the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, examined al Qaeda's online media operation, finding that four production centers use cutting edge technology to produce online magazines, official statements, new updates, white papers, poetry and more.  Content is then funneled to a clearinghouse before it is approved and posted on thousands of web sites on a daily basis. 

The clearinghouse ensures the authenticity of the message and facilitates near-instantaneous dissemination of propaganda.  These media products are quickly and accurately translated into English and openly marketed to Muslims in the United States.  According to Charles Allen, chief intelligence officer and undersecretary for intelligence and analysis at the Department of Homeland Security, al Qaeda's objective in this effort is to "gain wide Muslim support, empathy, financing, and future recruits.

The growing sophistication of al Qaeda's Internet presence in the English-speaking world threatens to erode the cultural and community characteristics of the United States, particularly the integration of Muslims into overall American society, that have so far discouraged violent radicalization.  

In February, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell testified about the growing threat of "homegrown" terrorists before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.  McConnell said that while evidence suggested that the radical and violent segment of the Muslim population in the West was growing, the cells detected in the United States were much weaker than those in Europe and elsewhere overseas.  He added the caveat that by using the Internet, these groups were very likely to become stronger and more sophisticated without a need to travel overseas for training.

The Senate report roundly criticized the government's current response and said "efforts that rely on relatively uncoordinated outreach to American-Muslim communities and fragmented communications strategies must be improved."  

While Homeland Security's Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties does meet regularly with religious and ethnic community leaders in five major cities and to address the concerns of its participants, it does not communicate with the FBI.  However, neither the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties' program nor the FBI's outreach program, which has substantial contact with the same communities through its 56 field offices, is designed to counter violent Islamist ideology.

The most credible voices in isolating and rejecting violent Islamist ideology are those of Muslim community leaders, religious leaders, and other nongovernmental actors who must play a more visible and vocal role in discrediting and providing alternatives to violent Islamist ideology."  In other words, the old adage about fighting fire with fire must be applied swiftly and ubiquitously.

Link to report here