Report: US lacks plan to counter terrorist messages

By EILEEN SULLIVAN Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States must develop a communications plan to counter radical Islamic messages on the Internet, according to a Congressional report released Thursday.

Because the Internet's easy access makes it possible for al-Qaida and other terrorist sympathizers to spread their beliefs and recruit new followers, the government needs a coordinated and thorough response that it currently lacks, said the senior senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said al-Qaida is better at communicating its message to Americans than the U.S. government is at communicating its message.

That means people can become radicalized at home, without leaving the country or going to a terrorist training camp, he said. This fuels the potential for "homegrown" terrorists, such as the men caught last year plotting to attack Fort Dix and John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The Homeland Security Department's top intelligence official, Charlie Allen, said earlier this week that the number of messages al-Qaida sends over the Internet has increased over the past 18 months.

But shutting down the sites is not the best option, said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, because of First Amendment issues and the "whack-a-mole" effect - the government shuts down one site and another site pops up almost instantly.

Lieberman said the FBI currently has the most extensive and methodical outreach to Muslim communities in America. The Homeland Security department does similar outreach. But Lieberman and Collins said there needs to be a larger, more coordinated strategy.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other such advocacy groups criticized the Senate report for trying to regulate beliefs.

"We should not be legislating against thought, and we should certainly not be regulating religious or unpopular thought," ACLU Washington legislative director Caroline Fredrickson said in a statement Thursday.

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On The Net:

http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/-files/IslamistReport.pdf