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Obama Creating New Task Force to Counter Terror Via Facebook
Friday, January 8, 2016 03:11 PM
By: Justin Sink and Chris Strohm
President Barack Obama is creating a new counterterrorism task force to thwart extremists and their use of social media to incite violence, according to a senior U.S. official.
The task force will be based at the Homeland Security Department in Washington, said the official, who wasn’t authorized to speak on the record because the announcement had not been officially made. An announcement is expected Friday.
The move comes as top Obama administration officials were dispatched to San Jose, California, to drum up support from Silicon Valley to counter terrorism. The closed-door meeting Friday includes representatives from Twitter Inc., Apple Inc., and Facebook Inc., and others.
The White House is seeking the technology industry’s help to make it harder for extremists to recruit over social media and deliver counter messages to the propaganda being put out by groups like Islamic State.
Cyber Refuge
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the effort is similar to attempts to combat child pornography and that Friday’s discussion is to foster the cooperation between government and technology companies that Obama alluded to in an address to the nation last month.
“The goal here is to find additional ways to work together to make it even harder for terrorists or criminals to find refuge in cyberspace,” Earnest said.
He declined to outline the specific agenda and said that it would include a “robust” discussion of what’s to disrupt communications from extremist groups, provide metrics to measure success and “publish and amplify” messages to counter extremist propaganda. He said they also would talk about solutions to such groups using encryption to shield communications. The issue has been a point of contention. Companies say giving the U.S. government a “key” to access encrypted communications would open the way for hackers and countries such as China to obtain private messages.
Administration Representatives
Among those going to California for the meeting are Denis McDonough, Obama’s chief of staff, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers and White House Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith.
Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation officials have been meeting for months with the companies, raising concerns about how terrorists are using social media platforms. Officials also have expressed particular concern that terrorists and criminals are using sophisticated methods to hide their communications, such as encryption that scrambles data with code, private online chats and hidden websites. Law enforcement officials refer to such techniques as "going dark."
While encryption will be a topic at the summit, a person familiar with the talks who asked not to be identified said the discussions will be comprehensive and address everything from blocking terrorists using social media networks to better tracking how they recruit followers to countering and undercutting their message.
Obama administration officials and some lawmakers have said more urgency is needed to counter terrorists following deadly attacks in Paris in November and last month in San Bernardino, California.
Comey has warned that terrorists are skilled in using social media to inspire followers to act. Detecting persons communicating with terrorists overseas, particularly members of the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, is proving difficult, as is uncovering the extent of plots that have been unraveled, Comey testified before Congress last month.
