The Internet is the new Afghanistan

Via Times of India -

The Internet is the new battleground against Islamist extremism because it provides ideology that could radicalize Westerners who might then initiate home-grown attacks, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

"The Internet is the new Afghanistan," Kelly said, as he released a New York Police Department report on the homegrown threat of attacks by Islamist extremists. "It is the de facto training ground. It's an area of concern."

The report found that the challenge for Western authorities was to identify, pre-empt and prevent homegrown threats, which was difficult because many of those who might undertake an attack often commit no crimes along the path to extremism.

The report identified the four stages to radicalization as preradicalization, self-identification, indoctrination and jihadization, and said the Internet drove and enabled the process.

Raymond Kelly Radicalization could be triggered by such things as the loss of a job, the death of a close family member, alienation, discrimination and international conflicts involving Muslims, according to the report, released by senior NYPD intelligence analysts.

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Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat (PDF)