Online recruitment of new adherents to violent Muslim extremism--a tactic that's gained widespread billing as an important jihadi tool--is not in fact that effective, said Brian Jenkins, a senior Rand Corp. advisor, while testifying before a House panel.

"They place a great deal of emphasis on this Internet campaign to recruit--a lot more retail outlets in the form of websites and American born-salesmen like [Adam] Gadahn, [Anwar al] Awlaki and [Omar] Hammami--but they're not selling a lot of cars," Jenkins said. He testified June 22 before the House Armed Services emerging threats and capabilities subcommittee.

Similarly, however, the United States shouldn't try to counter direct counter-jihadist messages, Jenkins said. "It's intervening in an area where we don't really have the credentials to do so.

"We might instead take the very cautious approach and say 'We are Americans, this is what we believe. We will stop terrorist attacks--and within the Muslim community, they have to deal with [the ideology of] al-Qaeda themselves,'" he added.

Al Qaeda was, in any case, already losing the war of ideas inside the Muslim world even before the death of Osama bin Laden, said Peter Bergen, a national security analyst for CNN. "Not definitely because the United States was winning them--but because al Qaeda, was losing them, principally on the issue that al Qaeda and its allies had killed so many Muslim civilians."

However, Sebastian Gorka, an assistant professor of irregular warfare at the National Defense University, disagreed, calling for a concerted informational campaign, adding that the Smith-Mundt Act places "very out of date" restrictions on U.S. actions in that area.

Gorka also decried use of the term "violent extremism" to describe jihadi opponents. "You've got to be clear about the ideology and what they say about themselves. This is an ideology of global jihad, not a grab bag of 'violent extremism.' So let's begin to get specific and let's start to take the fight to the enemy on the ideological plane," he said.

For more:
- go to the hearing webpage (webcast available)

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