Free Republic

A skeletal portrait of the Sterling, Va., man federal authorities have accused of obstructing a terrorism investigation began to come into focus on Monday — that of a directionless youth who converted to Islam at the end of high school, married a significantly older Muslim woman, had a child who died as an infant, and became increasingly religious until an arrest Friday that allegedly included him destroying a computer thumb drive that authorities suspect may have contained evidence of terrorism-related activity. In the months before that arrest, court filings allege, Sean Andrew Duncan, 21, who will appear in federal court...

NBC News has learned that ISIS is using a web-savvy new tactic to expand its global operational footprint -- a 24-hour Jihadi Help Desk to help its foot soldiers spread its message worldwide, recruit followers and launch more attacks on foreign soil. Counterterrorism analysts affiliated with the U.S. Army tell NBC News that the ISIS help desk, manned by a half-dozen senior operatives around the clock, was established with the express purpose of helping would-be jihadists use encryption and other secure communications in order to evade detection by law enforcement and intelligence authorities. The relatively new development -- which law...

Islamic extremists in Germany are trying to recruit Syrian refugees to their cause, the country’s domestic security service has said. The warning was issued as one of Germany’s best known Islamist preachers published a list of suggestions on how best to approach refugees. Pierre Vogel, a former boxer and convert to Islam who has been described as “Germany’s most influential Salafist preacher,” an ultra-conservative branch of Sunni Islam, called on his followers to seek out new recruits at refugee shelters. The preacher told his followers to take gifts and donations with them, and to volunteer to help staff with the...

The “effective use of social media” by Islamic extremists poses new and serious threats to the U.S. homeland, but “it’s important to remember that a lot of the counter-narrative needs to come from within the community,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “And so, when I meet with community leaders, I am asking them, what are we doing to counter this narrative? It is slick. It is effective,” Johnson said, referring to the terrorists' Internet recruitment. “But we need to get the message out, and that’s not necessarily a government objective, a government mission. It...

Considering the social conflict between cops and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, the terrorist group commonly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is using the strategic moment in American history to recruit African-Americans to join the Islamic State's jihadist movement. Those fighting alongside ISIS, a globally growing terrorist group in which U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said was "as sophisticated and well-funded as any terrorist we have ever seen", have made no secret that they have vowed to bring turmoil to America. ISIS members promised to "divide America in two", while their spokesman Abu Mosa promised...