On July 14, 2003, Washington Post journalist Robert Novak, using information obtained from Richard Armitage at the US State Department, effectively ended Valerie Plame's career with the CIA

I don't think they're idiots. I think that they think we are idiots.

This issue of Inspire, the first since the Edward Snowden affair, includes a focus on Internet security. Most significantly, it notes on the first page, in all-capital letters: "DUE TO TECHNICAL AND SECURITY REASONS, WE HAVE SUSPENDED OUR EMAIL ADDRESSES TEMPORARILY." Since, as mentioned, Inspire has always provided email addresses and encryption information for readers wishing to contact it, and, as a major part of its outreach efforts, urged readers to write in, its decision to suspend its email is meaningful.

It is worth noting that this issue includes praise for Snowden, as well as for other Western leakers such as Bradley/Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange. It notes under the heading "Questions We Should Be Asking": "If those making blasphemy against Islam have the right to express themselves, why aren't the actions of Assange, Snowden, Manning and Hammond considered freedom of expression?"

The cover story, "Shattered: A Story About Change," by Abu Abdillah Almoravid, who also authored an article in the previous issue of Inspire, focuses on the immoral nature of America and, in another mention of Edward Snowden, how he helped unmask it. ...

Praise for Snowden can also be found in Issue III of the English-language online Taliban magazine Azan, released August 26, 2013 ....

Also following the Snowden leaks, on August 30, 2013, Mula'ib Al-Assinnah, a senior member of the leading jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam warned online jihadis not to use Google's Gmail because Google is part of the National Security Agency (NSA). ...

While I agree, I'm not sure how much of a transformation happened. If you look at the origins of the CIA, they were about making the world safe for American business pretty much from the beginning. That's not all they did, or do of course. But Allen and John Foster were Wall Street lawyers after all.

Are the new communication methods adopted by jihadists since Snowden's disclosures more effective against surveillance?

If you can't show the superiority of these new methods over the old, then Snowden's disclosures didn't really cause any harm in this area.

Terrorist groups ... The United States National Security Agency, the US Military, and other terrorist operations ...

The report is a lie.

No matter how conclusively this is proven, these idiot officials will continue to use Snowden as their scapegoat.

If I was a member of a spy/security agency who wanted more than anything to wipe away the last, feeble laws protecting the privacy and freedom of my country's sheeple, this is precisely the kind of operation I'd set up. All it would take is a few words whispered in the right ear.

Analysis Summary

Since 2007, Al-Qaeda’s use of encryption technology has been based on the Mujahideen Secrets platform which has developed to include support for mobile, instant messaging, and Macs.

Following the June 2013 Edward Snowden leaks we observe an increased pace of innovation, specifically new competing jihadist platforms and three (3) major new encryption tools from three (3) different organizations – GIMF, Al-Fajr Technical Committee, and ISIS – within a three to five-month time frame of the leaks.