For bin Laden and his followers the weapons of terrorism are no longer simply the guns and bombs that they always have been, but now include the mini-cam and videotape, editing suite and attendant production facilities; professionally produced and mass-marketed CD-Roms and DVDs; and, most critically, the lap-top and desk-top computers, CD burners and e-mail accounts, and Internet and worldwide web access that have defined the information revolution today.
Indeed, in recent years, the art of terrorist communication has evolved to a point where the terrorists themselves can now control the entire production process: determining the content, context and medium over which their message is projected; and towards precisely the audience (or multiple audiences) they seek to reach. The implications of this development are enormous.
A new information revolution has occurred to empower these movements with the ability to shape and disseminate their own message in their own way: enabling them to bypass completely traditional, established media outlets. As Tina Brown, the doyenne of post-modern media, has pointed out: the ‘conjunction of 21st-century Internet speed and 12th-century fanaticism has turned our world into a tinderbox.’
Testimony presented to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, on May 4, 2006.
