FORUM - How to beat back ISIS propaganda

Deep into the second decade of Western efforts to counter the propaganda of groups like Al Qaeda and Daesh/ISIS, results are mixed. Many would consider even this cautious assessment to be optimistic. Almost a decade ago, then U.S. defense secretary Robert Gates lamented how one man in a cave managed to out-communicate the worlds greatest communication society. Those frustrations have arguably intensified. As Alberto Fernandez, former director of the U.S. State Departments Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC), candidly asserted in his report for Brookings: Efforts to blunt ISIS propaganda have been tentative and ineffective, despite major efforts by countries like Saudi Arabia, the United States and the United Kingdom, and even al-Qaida.