THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume IX, Issue # 130, July 11, 2007
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
MY CYBER COUNTER-JIHAD
By Shannen Rossmiller
INTERNET CYBER-WARFARE WITH AL-QA'IDA: TERRORISM, COUNTERTERRORISM, CYBER COUNTERTERRORISM, &
CYBER-COUNTERINTELLIGENCE -- THE NEED FOR THE U.S. & OTHER WESTERN GOVERNMENTS TO DEVELOP A BETTER
UNDERSTANDING OF THE WAYS AL-QA'IDA & ITS AFFILIATES USE THE INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY TO WAGE THE GLOBAL
ISLAMIST JIHAD AGAINST WESTERN CIVILIZATION -- THE NEED FOR INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES TO BE ALLOWED &
ENCOURAGED TO INCORPORATE CREATIVE STRATEGIES ENABLING THEM TO ANTICIPATE WHERE THE TERRORISTS MIGHT
NEXT CARVE THEIR PATH ON THE INTERNET
FULL STORY:
On September 3, 2004, a nine-member officer's panel at Fort Lewis, Washington, found Specialist Ryan G. Anderson guilty
of five counts of seeking to aid the enemy during a time of war and attempted espionage. The court martial subsequently
sentenced him to five concurrent life terms for his crimes. To date, the sentence represents the most severe penalty meted
out to a U.S. citizen in President George W. Bush's global war on terror. The case also marked the triumph of the new field
of cyber counterterrorism, which I helped develop. Working from my home computer, I enabled Anderson's capture. There
have since been more than 200 other cases, although many of these were intelligence cases that, for various reasons, did
not result in criminal prosecution.
DISCOVERING JIHAD ONLINE
Before 9-11, I had no experience with the Middle East or the Arabic language. I was a mother of three and a municipal judge
in a small town in Montana. But the terrorist attacks affected me deeply. I wondered how it could happen. What kind of
people could carry out such an atrocity and why? I began to read vociferously about Islam, terrorism, extremist groups, and
Islamist ideology. [1] Some of the books satisfied; many did not.
In November 2001, I saw a news report about how terrorists and their sympathizers communicated on websites and Internet
message boards and how limited government agencies were in their ability to monitor these web communications. This news
report showed me how extensively Al-Qa'ida used the Internet to orchestrate 9-11 and how out of touch our intelligence
agencies were regarding this Internet activity. Apparently, there were not procedures in place for tracking communications
and activity on the Al-Qa'ida websites and Internet forums at the time.
The Internet address named in the news report was "www.alneda.com." I wrote it down and proceeded to see for myself what
all the fuss was about. I entered another world when I logged on to that site for the first time. I did not know Arabic, so I
clicked away at random, looking at featured pictures depicting such things as dead bodies lying around in the aftermath of a
car bombing and other atrocities.
Early in January, 2002, I began taking an Arabic language course online for eight weeks from the Cairo-based Arab Academy, [2]
which, that Autumn, I supplemented with an intensive Arabic course at the State University of New York at Buffalo. As I
learned more Arabic, the jihadi websites opened for me. Certain individuals stood out for either their radicalism or the
information that they sent. I followed and tracked these individuals and kept notebooks detailing each website and person of
interest.
Gradually, as I put to use the knowledge and skills I was developing of the Arabic language, I started posting messages on
Internet forums and message boards. However, it was not until I was able to find an Arabic language translator through an
online translation service [3] who was willing to assist me with constructing contextually accurate messages that I began to
elicit responses from individuals at these Internet sites. As time went on, and through the process of trial and error, I
eventually figured out what to say and how to say it to start the process of passing myself off as a jihadist sympathizer.
I created my first terrorist cover identity on the Internet on March 13, 2002, to communicate and interact with these targets.
In my first chat room sting, I convinced a Pakistani man that I was an Islamist arms dealer. When he offered to sell me stolen
U.S. Stinger missiles to help the jihadists fighting the U.S. and Coalition forces in Afghanistan, I used the Persian Gulf
dialect of Arabic to ask him to provide me with information that I could use to confirm his claims, such as stock numbers.
Within a couple of weeks, the missile identification numbers were in my computer inbox.
Stock numbers and the e-mail correspondence in hand, I intended to drive to the closest field office for the FBI here in
Montana but was afraid that the FBI would not take me seriously. What were the chances of a Montana mom showing up at
their door with information about an individual in Pakistan who was trying to sell Stinger missiles? Instead, I submitted the
information to the FBI's online tips site.
A few days later, I received a telephone call from an FBI agent from New Jersey who proceeded to question me. It felt like an
interrogation. Several days later, the same agent called to thank me and say that the stock number information for the
Stingers did match some of the information that the government had about the missiles.
Encouraged by this success, I continued to communicate with these jihadis online and proceeded to gather more information.
Using various Muslim personalities and theatrics for cover, I began monitoring the jihadist chat rooms into the early hours
of the morning while my family slept. Plunging in, I started making headway into the world of counterterrorism.
In 2003, the individuals interacting in known Al-Qa'ida affiliated websites and Internet forums began to distribute information
about private Internet forums used by Al-Qa'ida and its sympathizers. Under one of my terrorist identities, I was able to
infiltrate some of these private sites where the communication and interaction was much more radical than what I had earlier
encountered. In March, 2003, I aligned myself with a few of the more prolific individuals in one of these forums. During this
time, many messages were circulated about how the "brothers" had perfected the use of cell phones as remote bomb
detonators and how they would share the information. When I received the "perfected" schematics for use of cell phones as
remote bomb detonators, the "brothers" at the Internet forum stated that the next big attacks would incorporate the use of
cell phone detonators for car bombings in the Arab peninsula. I again forwarded this information to the FBI.
Over the next couple of months, it became clear that Al-Qa'ida would next target Western interests in Saudi Arabia. On April
30, 2003, while chatting online in Arabic with terrorist "friends," a jihadi indicated that the selected targets for new attacks
would be Western housing complexes or hotels frequented by Westerners in the Kingdom. After further conversations over
the next few days, I became convinced that the attack would be within a week, in Riyadh. On May 12, 2003, four days after I
had tipped off the FBI, Al-Qa'ida carried out its attacks. Terrorists drove two cars, a pickup, and an SUV through Riyadh.
Two of the vehicles carried heavily armed assault teams, and three of the four were also packed with explosives. Their targets
were three compounds: the Durat al-Jadawil, a compound owned by MBI International and Partners; Al-Hamra Oasis Village
compound and a compound owned by the Vinnell Corporation, a Virginia-based defense contractor that was training the
Saudi national guard. The Islamists killed thirty-four people in and around the compounds. [4]
Then, four days later on May 16, 2003, Al-Qa'ida struck in Casablanca, setting off five explosions killing at least twenty
people and injuring 100. The attacks targeted a Jewish community center, a Spanish restaurant and social club, a hotel, and
the Belgian consulate. [5] Subsequent to the attacks, FBI investigators confirmed that terrorists used cell phones as remote
detonators in both operations. [6]
Two months later, while posing as a courier, I indicated that I was in Mosul, Iraq, and wanted to assist the jihadis fighting the
Americans there. I informed them that I could travel between Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq and could take money or information to
people in those countries to help the cause. After a couple of weeks, I had gained enough trust in the chat room that I was
asked if I could get a letter and some money into Jordan for certain members of Saddam's fedayeen. I was given a "scanned"
copy of a letter that was said to have been written by Saddam Hussein and intended as a communiqué for former elements of
his regime that had relocated to Jordan after the fall of Baghdad to Coalition forces. I was later told by federal authorities that
they believed the letter to be authentic. [7]
CAPTURING RYAN ANDERSON
It was soon afterwards that I learned that I was not the only American surfing the chat rooms. In October, 2004, while
monitoring Arabic Islamist websites for threat-related information and activity, I saw a message posted in English by a man
calling himself Amir Abdul Rashid. He said he was a Muslim convert who "was in a position to take things to the next level
in the fight against our enemy (the U.S. government)." He further requested that someone from the mujahideen contact him
for details. I was suspicious because Rashid posted his message in English on an Arabic website and was openly seeking
contact from the mujahideen. I traced his IP address back to an area outside of Seattle, Washington. Over time, it also became
apparent to me that he was a member of the U.S. military.
I posed as an Algerian with ties to that country's Armed Islamic Group, which I indicated was closely aligned and working
with elements of groups associated with Al-Qa'ida, and sent Rashid an e-mail in English with the subject line "A Call to
Jihad." Rashid responded by asking if it was possible that a "brother fighting on the wrong side could sign up or defect, so
to speak." Over a period of four months, Rashid and I exchanged a series of thirty e-mails in English. I learned he was a
member of the Army National Guard from Washington State, whose tank battalion unit was scheduled to be deployed to
Iraq in February, 2004. Through the course of our e-mail exchanges, Rashid provided me with information and materials on
the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the M1-AI and M1-A2 Abrams tanks as well as U.S. troop locations in Iraq. At all
times during our communications, Rashid perceived me to be a mid-level Al-Qa'ida operative.
After our fifth e-mail exchange, I contacted the Department of Homeland Security, which put me in contact with my local FBI
office. During the next four months, I worked closely with the FBI and the Criminal Investigation Division of the Army. On
February 12, 2004, just eight days shy of deploying with his National Guard unit, the FBI arrested Spec. Ryan G. Anderson
and turned him over to the Army for prosecution.
While I preferred to continue my work anonymously, my undercover life became public because of my involvement in the
Anderson case. During his prosecution, I was called to testify, and so my work and identity were exposed in U.S. court
records.[8]
After the media picked up my identity at Anderson's Article 32 hearing in May, 2004, I received numerous threats and, on
December 5, 2004, someone stole my car out of my family's garage. It was later found wrecked two counties away from my
home, riddled with bullet holes. As a result, I now have permanent security.
I have still continued my online sleuthing. After the Anderson case, I worked to capture members of an Al-Qa'ida affiliate
in Lebanon seeking to sneak chemical weapons into Iraq. Believing me to be a jihadist banker, group members said that
they had already killed twenty-four British troops, wanted to attack U.S. soldiers with weapons of mass destruction, and
needed money to buy the materials on the black market. Because of the hard work of a number of investigative bureaus in
the United States and abroad, they never got the chance.
In January, 2005, I came upon another individual here in the United States who claimed to have knowledge and skills in
nuclear physics and was offering his abilities online to Al-Qa'ida to carry out terrorist attacks here on U.S. soil. The
individual's online tracks traced back to several public library locations in Ohio. I began communicating with this individual
in English and transliterated Arabic and later identified him as Mohammed Radwan Obeid. During the course of our
communications, Obeid talked about nuclear weapons and other weapons attractive to the mujahideen as well as his desire
to recruit people to start or join a terror cell. In March of 2005, the FBI arrested Obeid, a Jordanian and illegal alien
pretending to be a Jehovah's Witness. He has since been sentenced to a year in prison, followed by deportation. [9]
Finally, in October, 2005, I came into contact with another U.S. citizen intending to harm the United States for Al-Qa'ida.
Michael C. Reynolds was arrested on December 5, 2005, outside of Pocatello, Idaho. [10] He thought he was conspiring
with an Al-Qa'ida operative online seeking to cause a major disruption in the U.S. economy and its foreign policy
objectives abroad by bombing sections of the Alaska transcontinental pipeline and other U.S. oil and energy installations.
On October 3, 2006, a federal grand jury in Scranton, Pennsylvania, indicted Reynolds on six counts of attempted terrorism
activities. [11] Reynolds remains in federal custody in Pennsylvania pending judgment. [12]
TERRORIST USE OF THE INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY
More than five years after 9-11, a growing number of terrorist movements harness the Internet and employ technology in
their fight against the West. However, as Jarret Brachman, Director of Research for the Combating Terrorism Center at the
United States Military Academy, points out, "It is the strategic — not operational — objectives of the jihadi movement's
use of technology that engenders the most enduring and lethal threat to the United States over the longterm." He argues,
"If Western governments made reading the online statements posted by Al-Qa'ida ideologues a priority, they would better
realize how the jihadi movement is not simply using technological tools to recruit new members, receive donations, and
plan attacks. In actuality, Al-Qa'ida's use of the Internet and other new technologies has also enabled it to radicalize and
empower armies of new recruits by shaping their general worldview." [13]
The process that I started in early 2002 would eventually become a template for the government in the new and
developing field of fighting terrorism online called "cyber-counterintelligence." It would be counterproductive, though, to
ongoing investigations to comment further on the institutionalization of the field or its sources and methods.
Yet my efforts have been worth the personal sacrifice. After hundreds of cases, I continue to challenge myself to outthink
and outmaneuver the terror enemy — by forging new and untested methods in the field of cyber-counterintelligence to
always gain the upper hand in an operation. Whenever I set out to ensnare any terrorist operative or group, I always have
one main motivating factor in sight: Simply said, I cannot and will not ever forget the painful memory of 9-11 and the death
and destruction brought to bear upon the United States and the world.
If we are to defeat Al-Qa'ida and all it encompasses, governments need to develop a better understanding of the ways
Al-Qa'ida and its affiliates use the Internet and technology. Intelligence agencies must be allowed to "think outside the
box" and incorporate creative strategies that allow them to anticipate where the terrorist movements might next carve their
path on the Internet. Western governments lag behind in Internet cyber-warfare with Al-Qa'ida. If they do not catch up,
they will not gain the upper hand in the war on terror.
NOTES:
[1] For example, see Reinhard Schulze, A Modern History of the Islamic World (New York: New York University Press, 2002); Ahmed Rashid, Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia (New York: Penguin, 2003); Ahmed Rashid, Taliban (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001); Karen Armstrong, Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1993); Gilles Kepel, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 2003); Rohan Gunaratna, Inside Al-Qaeda: Global Network of Terror (Berkley: Berkley Trade, 2003).
[2] The Arab Academy maintains a website at http://www.arabacademy.com.
[3] Translation Depot, online site for freelance translators and interpreters.
[4] CNN.com, May 13, 2003; "Riyadh Bombings," Online NewsHour, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), accessed Feb 26, 2007.
[5] CNN News, May 19, 2003.
[6] "Homeland Security Report," no. 127, Homeland Security Group, Apr. 5, 2004, p. 6.
[7] See mention in The Washington Post, May 4, 2003.
[8] "United States of America, Department of the Army vs. Specialist Ryan G. Anderson, Fort Lewis, Army Base, Washington State"; The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Feb. 13, 2004.
[9] The Dayton Daily News, July 8, 2006.
[10] CBS News, Feb. 11, 2006; The Washington Post, Feb. 13, 2006.
[11] Middle District of Pennsylvania, United States of America vs. Michael Curtis Reynolds, no. 3: CR-05-493, Oct. 3, 2006; The New York Times, Oct. 5, 2006.
[12] My involvement is mentioned in The Washington Post, June 4, 2006; ABC News, June 5, Oct. 3, 2006; The Telegraph (London), June 27, 2006.
[13] Jarret M. Brachman, "High-Tech Terror: Al-Qaeda's Use of New Technology," The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Summer 2006.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Terrorism & American Homeland Security
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Shannen Rossmiller retired from the bench as a municipal court judge in Montana in September, 2006, and has since taken
a position as a civil litigation specialist with the Montana Attorney General's office.
The foregoing article by Shannen Rossmiller was originally published in the Middle East Quarterly, Summer, 2007,
and can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum,
a think tank which seeks to define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include
fighting radical Islam, working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S.
efforts to promote constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle
East, more robustly asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
July 11, 2007
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