Countering Online Extremism

Countering Violent Messages

"Alistair Millar, the director of the Center on Global Counter Terrorism Cooperation, says having the right messengers to counter these violent messages is important. If governments try, he says, they will fail.

Inspire magazine, al-Qaida's first

English-language magazine, is based in Yemen.

"Youth and others who might be susceptible to the allure of the terrorist narrative are going to be repulsed by any overt effort by government to tell them what to do," Millar says.

"It may be up to people like Carie Lemack to really reach people, he says.

"Our motto is to speak truth to terror, which is a very American way of approaching it," Lemack says.
Millar calls Abdullah Kemal Sharayed, a former leader in an al-Qaida-inspired group in Jordan, another credible voice.

"At the meeting in Riyadh, Sharayed and another ex-al-Qaida member explained how they were radicalized at an early age — and why they later turned against the group. According to Millar, that's a message they often deliver to young people who are susceptible to calls for violence.

"They have credibility among the people we are trying to reach," Millar says. "And I think it highlighted exactly what we wanted to do in terms of showing that we need to have the right messengers to deliver the message."

Full article: Agencies Aim To Counter Threat Of Online Extremism