Senators say: Youth and the digital battlespace are areas that require additional attention and resources
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) led a bipartisan letter urging President Obama to use the upcoming Global Youth Summit at the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly as an opportunity to focus global attention on the need to scale up efforts to combat ISIL and other violent extremists’ use of social media and digital platforms to recruit new members. Joining Booker and Ayotte on the letter are Senators Ron Johnson (R-WI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Tom Carper (D-DE), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
“As we evaluate our progress, two areas we believe require additional attention and resources are youth and the digital battlespace. Our anti-ISIL coalition struggles to understand how young people engage in this digital battlespace and how the marketplace of extremist ideas and content has prospered to such an alarming extent,” the Senators wrote.
“A number of Senators have constituents from their states who have fallen prey to this digital recruitment. Some of them have successfully left the United States and joined ISIL. Others have, thankfully, been intercepted by authorities before doing so. Many of these individuals are young people from educated, middle class backgrounds, and friends and family members report nothing particularly unusual about them that could have predicted the course they chose.”
The Senators conclude, “We support your efforts to bring together leaders and young civil society activists from around the world to build young people’s resilience to violent extremism propaganda. We appreciate your attention to this issue and the commitment of the participants to youth-driven responses to this important issue. We hope to work with you to better protect our country and our young people.”
Senator Booker is currently writing legislation to bolster the United States’ online counterterrorism strategy to counter ISIL’s effective social media campaign which has persuaded youth to join ISIL and other violent extremist groups.