Feb 2019 AST Magazine Feb 2019 AST Final Magazine | Page 45

www.AmericanSecurityToday.com
munications, tar-
geting,
making
explosives,
and
performing the at-
tack. 
February 2019 - Edition 32
(A Long Island woman is accused of laundering bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and
wiring the money overseas to help the Islamic State group, then planned to travel to
Syria, according to federal prosecutors. Posted on Dec 15, 2017.)
In contrast, lone
wolves or cabals
are less adept at
evading detection
owing to absence
of training.
Police challenges
exist even when
Other points to weigh are whether authorities suspect that an individu-
these troubling activities are dan- al is involved with extremism.
gerous on their own accord (inde-
pendent factors) or only with others For instance, constant surveillance is
time consuming and costly financially
(dependent factors).
and in terms of manpower.
Using encrypted
technologies and
digital currencies
such as Bitcoin im-
pedes the discov-
ery of terrorists
and their networks.
Extremists direct-
ly associated with
a formal group
tend to have good
terror tradecraft,
including
com-
(On January 23, 2019, senior adviser to the Counter Extremism Project Lucinda Creighton
spoke on WTOP’s The Hunt with J.J. Green. Creighton said complacency, online radicaliza-
tion and tech companies are a big part of the problem. Posted on Feb 12, 2019.)
43