Christian Science Monitor, 10 March 2010: Militant groups can radicalize individuals and train them to carry out terrorist acts much more quickly today, in part thanks to the Internet, according to military and counter terrorism experts testifying on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

Militant groups and some individuals have “maximized” the use of technologies such as the Internet. Government officials say the case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who allegedly attempted to blow up an American airliner in Detroit on Christmas Day, points to just how fast groups can radicalize an individual. Mr. Abdulmutallab was identified, contacted, recruited, and trained all within six weeks, according to a Pentagon counterterrorism official.

That’s much faster than the two and a half years it took for Osama bin Laden to hatch the plan to attack the US nine years ago. While the two plans vary widely in scope, the faster time frame indicates how adaptive radicalized groups and individuals have become, say experts. . . .

Testimony on U.S. Government efforts to counter violent extremism

Ambassador Daniel Benjamin
Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Department of State

Garry Reid
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Combating Terrorism

Lieutenant General Francis H. Kearney III, USA
Deputy Commander U.S. Special Operations Command

Douglas M. Stone
President and Chairman, Transportation Networks International

Scott Atran
Professor of Anthropology and Psychology, University of Michigan and John Jay College of Criminal Justice

James J. F. Forest*
Director of Terrorism Studies and Associate Professor of Political Science, United States Military Academy