ISIS supporters have featured New York and
Washington in threat propaganda leading up to the Fourth of July — which is not
just our Independence Day, but a key caliphate anniversary — that has also
included aviation threats. One threat image spread online in recent days
depicts jihadists watching a fiery plane crash and another from non-official
ISIS media channel Maqdisi included the image of a plane in a vow to “soon”
attack “the doors of Europe.”
Another image from al-Irbaad Media
Foundation shows a U.S. soldier fleeing down a New York street away from the
Manhattan Bridge. Al-Irbaad was founded in December, calling on the “knights of
media and the lions of information, graphic designers, producers, and writer
alike” to join and “intensify their efforts” to wage war from “both a military
and a media point of view.”
Know O Crusader
infidel that you — Allah willing — will soon be pursued in your own homeland,”
said the New York image. “You will be pursued in the streets and in the
alleyways and you will burn by the flames of the IEDs; only this time you will
be feeling the pain of what you have inflicted for decades upon the Muslims, of
killing, burning, destruction, and displacement in refugee camps. What is
coming will — Allah willing — be directed at you, and in your own homeland. So
be on the lookout until then.”
An earlier image
distributed in mid-June depicted a jihadist with a bag in his hand and RPG
perched on his shoulder standing in front of a burning White House. Maqdisi
also disseminated an image depicting President Trump kneeling in an orange
jumpsuit in front of a masked jihadist, vowing “we will spare no effort in
terrorizing your masses.” Today a document circulated among ISIS supporters
stressing that their “war” is three-pronged: physical, ideological and
psychological. Another poster distributed online wordlessly depicted a jihadist
driving a car rigged with explosives down a nondescript tree-lined road.
And while it’s far
from extraordinary for law enforcement to receive federal cautions about
keeping an eye on large public gatherings on national holidays, police
departments have been alerted to potential — not specific — threats posed by
domestic extremists as well as adherents of ISIS or al-Qaeda. The bulletin
issued last week by the FBI, DHS and National Counterterrorism Center, “Large
Crowds at Independence Day Celebrations and Parades Present Attractive Targets
for Violent Extremists,” notes that domestic extremists “have attacked
perceived oppressors, opponents, or enemies engaged in outdoor First
Amendment-protected rallies or protests during past summers.”
Regardless of the
ideology of the terrorist, they “likely would use simplistic tactics and
relatively easily obtainable weapons such as firearms, knives, and vehicles —
although some violent extremists have historically sought to use explosive
devices.” “The FBI, DHS, and NCTC remain concerned that [they] could target
upcoming Independence Day celebrations, gatherings, or parades, though we are
unaware of any current plots specifically targeting such events,” stated the
bulletin, obtained by ABC News. “We note that attacks can occur with little to
no warning because of the frequently lower levels of security around civilian
targets, challenges in securing large crowds, and calls for attacks against
soft targets.”
The Fourth does have
significance to ISIS: July 4, 2014, was the day when leader Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi climbed the pulpit at the al-Nuri mosque in Mosul for his first
video, declaring himself caliph and rallying support for the new Islamic State.
And July 4 plots have been thwarted before: Last year, Demetrius Pitts was
arrested and charged with planning to attack Independence Day festivities in
Cleveland on behalf of al-Qaeda. “I’m trying to figure out something that would
shake them up on the 4th of July,” he allegedly told an undercover FBI
employee, according to the Justice Department. “What would hit them at their
core? Blow up in the, have a bomb blow up in the 4th of July parade.”
The online army of
ISIS supporters – from lone keyboard jihadists to unofficial media groups that whip
up a steady stream of propaganda for the terror group – traditionally latch
onto holidays to encourage attacks in simple PR posters that are distributed
online and posted on ISIS Telegram channels alongside standard propaganda fare
of videos and nasheeds. Though these online threats may not reflect active
threats, a graphic designer with sympathies for ISIS yet no personal attack
plan in the works can easily cook up a threat poster with a randomly chosen
picture for the target, and it can be viewed by an impressionable resident of
that city who may glean inspiration for an attack. This propaganda has
repeatedly highlighted crowded areas such as parades, political gatherings,
festivals and concerts as potential attack targets.
This past fall, there
was a rash of online threat posters issued by ISIS-supporting media groups
threatening non-specific concert venues. The first week of October, with timing
possibly meant to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the Las Vegas massacre,
a poster from Remah Media Production depicted a man blending into a concert
crowd while wielding a large knife, warning, “Wait for our surprises.” This was
preceded by a threat from prolific Al-Abd Al-Faqir Media depicting a
grenade-wielding jihadist in a concert crowd, and followed by an online poster
from Muharir al-Ansar depicting a cleaver-wielding jihadist at a concert and
calling on Muslims in “Europe, America, Russia, Australia and elsewhere” to
wage attacks.
More recently, ISIS
provinces have been renewing their vows of allegiance to self-proclaimed caliph
al-Baghdadi in online videos, including jihadists in West Africa, the Sinai
peninsula, the Caucasus and the Philippines. ISIS titled the series, intended
to underscore their global reach in the days after the fall of their caliphate
in Iraq and Syria, “And the Best Outcome is for the Righteous.” The New York
threat from Al-Irbaad begins and ends with this phrase. In a mid-June ISIS West
Africa video, a jihadist identified as Abu Salmah al-Mangawi says terrorists
are highly motivated after ISIS defeats in Iraq and Syria to spread their
objectives “throughout the entire world.” The Russian jihadists in the Caucasus
video branded ISIS’ territorial challenges as a test from Allah that would cleanse
the jihadist ranks from dead weight and leave them stronger going forward.
In domestic extremist
threats, a neo-Nazi group that stepped up its recruitment after the August 2017
“Unite the Right” white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., resurfaced
online in May to show camouflage-clad adherents conducting rifle drills and
practicing hand-to-hand combat in scenes reminiscent of stylized ISIS videos. The
Atomwaffen Division recruitment video “Accelerating Vengeance!” showed a member
with a torch and a bottle of lighter fluid setting aflame flags that others set
in a pile: the flag of Israel, the United Nations flag, the Gadsden flag, a
rainbow LGBT pride flag, a Black Lives Matter flag and a Blue Lives Matter
flag.
The Department of
Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency updated
its “Security of Soft Targets and Crowded Places—Resource Guide” in April to
reflect recent attacks and help prepare stakeholders for a breadth of threats
ranging from bombings or active shooters to drones. Download the guide here.
Source: GTSC Homeland Security-Bridget
Johnson
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