TERRORIST COMMUNICATIONS
R. A. Schultz
During their heyday, operational members of al-Qaeda made widespread use of cellular telecommunications until it was disclosed to the world by their jihadi fellow-travelers at the New York Times, that their conversations were being not only monitored and recorded, but the origins of their transmissions were being pinpointed by satellite signals intelligence (SIGINT). They immediately dropped their cellphones and reverted to an antiquated personal courier system impervious to electronic surveillance. In short, the New York Times disclosure saved lives. Jihadi lives.
Currently, the Islamofascists employ e-mail communications in the following fashion: The originator of the message will type out his message to his contact(s) and place it in his "draft" folder. The recipient(s) of the message will log on with the same information as the sender and access the "draft" folder, thereby receiving the message without its even having been transmitted. So far, this method has, as officially reported, been impervious to surveillance.
Social media on the Internet is also used to transmit and receive notifications and other communications between terrorists, using code words and phrases. A spike increase in Internet chatter could signal an impending terrorist act. The National Security Agency and other signals intelligence agencies monitor Internet traffic for this reason, as well as for obtaining specific information from communications between known or suspected jihadis and/or their sympathizers.
