Anne Speckhard and Mona Thakker As published in Homeland Security Today: As the ISIS foreign women languish in the overcrowded Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF] administered camps of Al Roj and Al Hol housing without adequate and regular access to health care,…
Anne Speckhard, Mona Thakker and Molly Ellenberg As published in Homeland Security Today: In the past weeks, foreign ISIS women held in custody in the northeast Syrian region controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who were for the most part…
Anne Speckhard and Molly Ellenberg As published in Homeland Security Today: “Coming to ISIS was the best deradicalization I could have.” Bouchra Abouallal, age 26, Belgian ISIS wife The ISIS “Caliphate” at its apex managed to attract approximately 40,000 foreign terrorist…
Anne Speckhard Originally published in Democracy and Security. There has been considerable interest in recent years to study and attempt to understand the motivations, recruitment, psycho-social and cultural patterns of individuals who become terrorists, particularly those among the “militant jihadi”i…
Anne Speckhard and Molly Ellenberg As published in Homeland Security Today: The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] is notorious for its slick propaganda videos and effectiveness at online recruitment, particularly on social media, of men and women all over…
Anne Speckhard and Molly Ellenberg As published in Homeland Security Today: Despite ISIS having been territorially defeated since 2019, the United Nations reported in January of 2020 that 8,000 children of foreign terrorist fighters [FTFs] remain in the custody of the Syrian Democratic…
Anne Speckhard and Molly Ellenberg As published in Homeland Security Today: In the wake of protests against police brutality sweeping the nation, the name Antifa abounds online as the political right’s bogeyman, blamed even by U.S. President Trump and Attorney…
Anne Speckhard and Molly Ellenberg As published in Homeland Security Today: When one thinks of the recent conflicts in Syria, images of ISIS beheadings, enslavement of Yazidis and black flags flying on behalf of the establishment of the ISIS Caliphate loom…
Anne Speckhard and Molly Ellenberg Read the full academic article in the International Studies Journal here. As published in Homeland Security Today: When ISIS was defeated territorially, there was a significant decrease in the online propaganda output for which they became…
Anne Speckhard & Molly Ellenberg As published in Homeland Security Today: Is Internet recruitment alone strong enough to recruit an individual into a terrorist group, much less to incite him or her to travel across continents to join, as in the…