Militant groups such as the Islamic State (IS) and its supporter communities are increasingly capitalising on advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) to disseminate propaganda and disinformation more efficiently and at reduced costs. By exploiting generative AI through easy-to-use and accessible Chatbots and image and audio generators, IS supporters are producingContinue Reading
“We have thousands of ISIS fighters that we want Europe to take, and let’s see if they take them,” President Trump told reporters at the beginning of the month. “If they don’t take them, we’ll probably have to release them to Europe.”[1] By Anne Speckhard & Ardian Shajkovci At aContinue Reading
Of all the love stories from inside the ISIS Caliphate that we have learned about firsthand in the course of interviewing 168 ISIS defectors, returnees and imprisoned ISIS cadres to date, none has been so surreal as that involving the German ex-rapper Denis Cuspert, aka Deso Dogg, and the AmericanContinue Reading
Unmanned and remote controlled aircrafts, i.e. drones, continue to change the character of contemporary warfare. [i] It was satellites and drones, alongside a good deal of human intelligence, that located Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 2000 [ii], and later, right up to the minute of the raid, helped toContinue Reading
By Anne Speckhard, Ph.D. ICSVE is proud toannounce the release of our newest video in the Breaking the ISIS Brand–ISIS Cadres Counter-Narrative Project. “Dreams of the Islamic State” produced by ICSVE’s Zack Baddorf is based on Anne Speckhard’s and Ahmed Yayla’s interview in Turkey of Syrian ISIS defector, Ibn Mesud. Ibn Mesud wasContinue Reading
Shoot the Women First is the title of a 1991 book by Eileen MacDonald based on her interviews of female terrorists and originated in advice purportedly given to Germany’s GSG 9 anti-terrorist sharpshooters. MacDonald exploded the myth that female terrorists of that time period were simply pawns of their maleContinue Reading
World powers are poised to forge a single resolution at the United Nations Security Council to declare a common war against Isis and “eradicate” jihadists in Iraq and Syria, The Independent understands. The attacks in Paris as well as the downing of the Russian jet over the Sinai Peninsula have galvanisedContinue Reading