Chicago (IL) - In a report published by the US Army’s 304th Military Intelligence Battalion and later posted to the Federation of American Scientists website, the U.S. Intelligence community has labeled Twitter, amongst other Web 2.0-like tools, as potential tools for terrorists to coordinate attacks.

The majority of the report is dedicated to ways that terrorist organizations would be take advantage of current mobile phone technologies. However a chapter entitled “Potential for Terrorist use of Twitter: a Red Teaming Perspective,” outlines a different and somewhat surprising topic.

Much of the early part of the chapter is dedicated to explaining what Twitter is, and examples of how it is used, specifically focusing on the earthquake that occurred in Los Angeles on July 29 of this year. It goes on to describe Twitter’s users as being “socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others…”

the report states that “Twitter is already used by some members to post and/or support extremist ideologies and perspectives,” and pointed to “multiple pro and anti Hezbollah Tweets” as examples of this claim. “In addition,” the report’s authors state, “extremist and terrorist use of Twitter could evolve over time to reflect tactics that are already evolving in use by hacktivists and activists for surveillance. This could theoretically be combined with targeting.”

The report was given from a “Red Teaming” perspective, referring to the intelligence communities Red Teams, who simulate military conflicts in an attempt to reveal weaknesses. Along with the fears posed by Twitter were three Red Team scenarios.

lol

Oct 27, 2008 14:11     

lol
lol report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +3

Oh No!!!

Oct 27, 2008 15:40     

Think what a whole group of athiestic-politically enthusiastic-vegetarians could accomplish with a tool like this. It would be the end of society as we know it. Good thing we are using government funds to identify such an outstanding threat to our national security and our very way of life. I can see the future now, "Rights for all, Meat for none, and God for fools!" It will be total anarchy.
shadenfreude report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

jeez... “socialists, human rights groups, com...

Oct 27, 2008 15:43     

jeez... “socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others…” well isn't it wonderful that our government is profiling all the "evil" people in the world. Those dang vegetarians with their extremist ideologies! How dare they use the internets to spread their lies! The shame!
me report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

Oh No!

Oct 27, 2008 15:49     

Just think what a group of athiestic-politically enthusiastic-vegetarians could accomplish with a tool like this. It would be the end of all society as we know it. I can see the future now, "Rights for all, meat for none, and god for fools" It would be anarchy. I am so glad we are spending government funds to identify such threats to national security.
shadenfreude report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Absurd

Oct 27, 2008 17:33     

This news just to hand: The US Army now lists the written word as a tool that can be used by terrorist groups to organise, convey orders and spread propaganda.
xrkn report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Surprise, surprise

Oct 27, 2008 21:07     

So, terrorists are using Twitter? According to John McCain, they are meeting with Barack Obama and preparing to take over the US. Our current and former military leaders, such as McCain, still do not have a clue. We are wasting our time searching little old ladies at the airport and recording all telephone, internet, and Twitter communications around the world. We need to seriously CHANGE our policies that CREATE so many new terrorists each year. Every time we invade a country, kill innocent civilians, and kidnap and torture residents of foreign countries, we CREATE hundreds of new terrorists among their family, friends, neighbors, and countrymen. How would YOU react if Al Quaida kidnapped your wife out of your house while you were at work, took her to another country, and kept her incommunicado, tortured her, and imprisoned her for seven years without a trial, or killed her in front of your kids. Would you rise up against them no matter what the consequences to you? Would your neighbors and church friends also rise up and fight on your behalf? For some reason, George Bush and John McCain can't figure this out, but Obama can. That is why Barack Obama is our country's BEST HOPE for avoiding future terrorism.

Mark Regan report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

^ STFU

Oct 28, 2008 02:25     

You know how I know you're an idiotic democrat...you stump for Obama in a tech forum.
ME report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Ban the telephone!

Oct 28, 2008 05:46     

I reckon the telephone is another tool terrorists may use to coordinate attacks!
nke report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Twitter for terrorists?

Oct 28, 2008 10:36     

As sporadic as twitter has been lately I'd be surprise if you could coordinate a coffee break with it...much less a terrorist attack.
Skyler Collings report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0