A multi-million dollar security initiative to counter extremist propaganda online is having little to no impact, according to an Associated Press investigation.
National security program “WebOps” was designed to identify extremist propaganda and sway potential recruits away from joining terror networks. The AP investigation found the program is so riddled with “incompetence, cronyism and flawed data” that people with knowledge of WebOps consider it useless.
Current and former employees described some translators in the program as having little understanding of Islam, jihadi propaganda and even the Arabic language.
A former employee said the Arabic words for “salad” and “authority” often get mixed up. References to the “Palestinian salad” have therefore become a common phrase of ridicule on social media.
Finding an Arabic speaker who can keep up with the language skills of Islamic State while also passing security clearances to handle classified information is a difficult task, which has contributed to a lower hiring standards.
“One of the things about jihadis: they are very good in Arabic,” one specialist told AP. “People can tell whether you are local, or whether you are Sunni or Shia,” another former worker said.
Several workers said they had witnessed data being manipulated to create the illusion of a successful program. Companies involved in the program have further avoided attempts to implement oversight and assessment of the data, according to the investigation.
The government opened the bidding for a separate $500 million counter-propaganda contract in early 2016. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is now investigating “allegations of corruption” behind how the contract was awarded, NCIS spokesman Ed Buice told AP.
The Obama administration announced the creation of a new counterterrorism task force in January, 2016, to look over the ineffective efforts to combat the use of social media by ISIS.
President Donald Trump — who repeatedly criticized Barack Obama’s approach to extremism during his campaign — asked the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State for the names of government officials working on counterterrorism programs shortly after his election, according to Reuters. Trump’s transition team did not specify why they sought the information.
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