Islamic State insurgents have learned the hard way about the perils of over-sharing on social media after US bombers struck a command-and-control center which they had located using an online post.
Air Combat Command boss General Hawk Carlisle claimed airmen at Hurlburt Field base in Florida spotted the building in a photo posted to a social site by an ISIS member.
“The [airmen are] combing through social media and they see some moron standing at this command,” Carlisle said at a recent speech, according to Air Force Times (via The Register).
“[He was in] some social media, open forum, bragging about command-and-control capabilities for Daesh, ISIL, and [our] guys go 'ah, we got an in’.”
Just 22 hours later, three JDAM smart bombs took the entire building out.
“It was incredible work, and incredible airmen doing this sort of thing,” said Carlisle during the speech in Arlington, Virginia.
“Our ability to change the way they fight and change the way they mass is pretty impressive.”
The incident is particularly ironic given that ISIS has been using social media to great effect to persuade the naïve and misguided to join its cause.
In fact, in a statement to the House Homeland Security Committee last week, FBI assistant director for counter-terrorism, Michael Steinbach, claimed that upwards of 200 Americans have already traveled overseas to join the radical group.
“ISIL blends traditional media platforms, glossy photos, in-depth articles, and social media campaigns that can go viral in a matter of seconds. No matter the format, the message of radicalization spreads faster than we imagined just a few years ago,” he argued.
“As a communication medium, social media is a critical tool for terror groups to exploit. One recent example occurred last week. An individual was arrested for providing material support to ISIL by facilitating an associate’s travel to Syria to join ISIL. The arrested individual had multiple connections, via a social media networking site, with other like-minded individuals.”
Steinbach used that same appearance to call for new legislation forcing service providers to offer law enforcers access to private social media accounts and encrypted communications, in order to mitigate the threat from ISIS.