Lining Up The Tools To Break The Islamic State Brand
Wednesday February 3, 2016
Reversing the political, military, and ideological factors that led to the movement’s rise will require substantive projects that are as self-sustaining and nimble as IS has proven to be.
The Islamic State brand is an ambitious and seductive vision that has proven to be a tremendous media success. Yet this vision is ultimately tethered to the perception of an actual, functioning utopian state. Military action against IS havens in Syria and Iraq is thus the most effective way to puncture the group’s propaganda balloon. Ongoing efforts toward that end are producing some tangible results, but all too slowly. And while technical measures to diminish the volume of IS material available on social media are also important, the brand is now a mature one that is well understood and internalized by proponents and adversaries alike. Washington will therefore need to find more creative ways of getting its own message across, mainly via its partners in the Middle East.
REBRANDING AND WORKING THROUGH PROXIES
On the surface, the recent rebranding of the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC) into the Global Engagement Center seems to be nothing more than a public relations gambit. Not one of the responsibilities listed in the State Department press release announcing the change was new — CSCC had worked on all of these tasks as far back as 2011. According to press accounts, however, the new center will no longer be in the direct messaging business. If its budget remains the same — about $5.5 million per year — the move away from direct messaging would free up approximately $3.5 million for the creation of overseas proxies and indirect messaging platforms.
Earmarking more funds for such efforts is certainly worth trying, assuming the programs in question include solid performance metrics and congressional oversight. Yet the one visible example of a Middle Eastern messaging proxy has not lived up to its promise, at least not yet. Launched to great fanfare in July 2015, the Sawab Center in the United Arab Emirates is largely funded by Abu Dhabi, with two American foreign service officers detailed to the operation. Its output — some 2,900 tweets in over six months — has been a bit underwhelming, resembling a smaller, more timid version of CSCC’s digital outreach team. Although it should have greater freedom to do things that overt U.S. government communications ...