FAS

Army Intelligence on the Twitter Threat

10.27.08 | 1 min read | Text by Steven Aftergood

Could terrorists use Twitter, the instant messaging and micro-blogging service?  Presumably so, just as they could use credit cards and can openers.

The potential use of Twitter and other communications technologies by terrorists is considered in a new draft Army intelligence paper, based on a review of jihadist web sites and other public sources.

The Army paper on “al Qaida-Like Mobile Discussions & Potential Creative Uses” was dissected by Noah Shachtman in “Spy Fears: Twitter Terrorists, Cell Phone Jihadists,” Danger Room, October 24.  A copy of the paper itself, which is more like a student exercise than a finished intelligence assessment, is available here (large pdf, for official use only).

publications
See all publications
Emerging Technology
day one project
Policy Memo
Strategies to Accelerate and Expand Access to the U.S. Innovation Economy

With targeted policy interventions, we can efficiently and effectively support the U.S. innovation economy through the translation of breakthrough scientific research from the lab to the market.

11.27.24 | 16 min read
read more
Government Capacity
day one project
Policy Memo
Collaborative Intelligence: Harnessing Crowd Forecasting for National Security

Crowd forecasting methods offer a systematic approach to quantifying the U.S. intelligence community’s uncertainty about the future and predicting the impact of interventions, allowing decision-makers to strategize effectively and allocate resources by outlining risks and tradeoffs in a legible format.

11.27.24 | 5 min read
read more
Clean Energy
day one project
Policy Memo
The Energy Transition Workforce Initiative

The energy transition underway in the United States continues to present a unique set of opportunities to put Americans back to work through the deployment of new technologies, infrastructure, energy efficiency, and expansion of the electricity system to meet our carbon goals.

11.27.24 | 5 min read
read more
Clean Energy
day one project
Policy Memo
Promoting Fusion Energy Leadership with U.S. Tritium Production Capacity

The United States has the only proven and scalable tritium production supply chain, but it is largely reserved for nuclear weapons. Excess tritium production capacity should be leveraged to ensure the success of and U.S. leadership in fusion energy.

11.26.24 | 12 min read
read more