Transcript Using Strategic Communication as a Counter

What is…?
Strategic communication is a
planned series of sustained and
coherent activities that develop
and promote ideas and
opinions with the objective of
changing or sustaining
particular types of behaviour
Terrorism is the calculated use,
or threat of use, of violence for
political purposes against
civilians
Strategic communication is
NOT simple media interaction,
Information Operations,
advertising, marketing,
propaganda or spin
Counterterrorism is the
collective term for measures
intended to combat or reduce
terrorism, and is primarily preemptive in nature
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How can Strategic Communication
contribute to Counterterrorism?
Intervention
Radicalisation
Violence
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Key Questions
How do we
measure any
changes?
Do we
understand the
behaviour?
?
Can we model
the behaviour?
Can we design
interventions
that can change
this behaviour?
What influences
this behaviour?
Where are the
trigger points
and barriers?
How does
communication
support these
interventions?
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The BeliefBehaviour
Gap
Adapted from: Leuprecht et al, 52010
Intervention
Process
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Adapted from: A. Darnton, 2008
Western Use of Strategic
Communication
Failure to counter
terrorist narrative
Kinetic action
takes precedence
over
communication
Used Western
political and
mass consumer
communication
tactics
Failure to
conduct
thorough
audience
analysis
Failure to
understand that all
messages are
global
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Intercultural Intelligence Gap
Source: S.A. Tatham, Dec 2008
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Terrorist Use of Strategic
Communication
Applied the principles
of asymmetric
warfare to the
communications
space
Clearly defined
communication
objectives
Communications
take priority over
action
Clearly defined
audiences
Multi-layered narrative
that resonates with
each target audience
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Audience Segmentation
Outsiders
Troublemakers,
Apostates, Jews,
Unbelievers
Insiders
Existing Backers and
Supporters
Muslims who could
support
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“How-to” Guide for web-Jihadists
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• Whenever the US claims a success, flood the media with discussions about how it will be rolled back
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• Make clear whose side God is on
3
• Spread videos of US soldiers dying
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• Publish statistics of how many Muslim civilians have been killed by the US
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• Calibrate your message according to the level of support for AQ
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• Any time the US does something wrong, emphasise it
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• Emphasise non-controversial Jihadi actions
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• Exploit diplomatic rifts between the enemies of AQ
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• Publish and comment on US counterterrorism research reports
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• Embrace online tools
Source: J. Brachman, 2010
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Global Jihadi Meta Narrative
Islam is under
attack by Western
Crusaders led by
the United States
Jihadis - whom the
West refer to as
terrorists - are
defending against
this attack
The actions they
take in defense of
Islam are
proportional, just
and religiously
sanctified
It is therefore the
duty of good
Muslims to
support these
actions
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Objectives of the Global Jihadi
Narrative
Legitimating : Islamists
see themselves as
"outsiders" and they use
violence to achieve their
goals. Social
legitimisation means
having the communities
in which they operate
know their story and
support their efforts
Intimidating: putting the
enemy on notice that
there can be no room for
compromise
Propagating: Jihadi
ideologues have focused
on crafting and
implementing an
aggressive, historically
informed and universally
applicable strategy to
take over the world
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Counter-narratives or Countering
Narratives?
Counter-narratives
Countering Narratives
• Impossible to centralise development
and control of the narrative in a
democracy
• Western governments have very little
credibility with the target audiences
• The “say-do” gap needs to be closed
considerably
• High potential for blowback
• Terrorist narrative can be pulled
apart layer by layer
• Terrorist communication tactics can
be turned against them
• Can be used to address the “free
rider” problem
• Raise awareness of the cost of active
involvement in terrorism
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Conclusion
• Strategic communication can be utilised to counter
terrorist narratives and to support interventions aimed
at preventing or reducing the incidence of violent
radicalisation
• A far more sophisticated understanding of the complex
systems nature of the communication space is required
• Western governments’ credibility is too compromised
and their ability to control the delivery of a common
counternarrative is too fragmented to consider
investment in such an initiative at this stage
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