1 May 2015

Counter-Terrorism: The Special Forces Scrutinize FaceBook


April 26, 2015: After years of informally using social networking sites and Internet activity in general to find, monitor and sometimes manipulate terrorist suspects U.S. SOCOM (Special Operations Command) revealed in recent Congressional hearings that this is becoming a more formal technique. This will involve custom software for more effectively searching social media and training SOCOM personnel in how best to handle potentially useful information. This will involve using the cultural and language skills of Special Forces operators to more effectively seek out and evaluate terrorist threats. The Special Forces has one of the largest collections of experienced counter-terrorism operators who know the culture and languages of areas where there is a lot of Islamic terrorist activity. These soldiers have spent years learning about cultures and languages and honed that knowledge by actually operating in those areas. In addition to combat missions, most of the time Special Forces are usually there for advising and training local forces in their own language and with a knowledge of local languages. The CIA has long seen Special Forces as a primary source of expert analysts and field operatives.

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