Echoing Obama administration, CIA Director John Brennan asserted that the Islamic State is not Islamic adding that the word "Islamic," would give the group "legitimacy." which it does not deserve as they should be called instead a group of "Psychopaths". "It is totally inconsistent with what the overwhelming majority of Muslims throughout the world" view as Islam, said Brennan, addressing a meeting at the Council on Foreign Relations, in New York. "By ascribing it as Muslim terrorism or Islamic extremism, I think it really does give them the type of Islamic legitimacy that they are so desperately seeking but which they don't deserve at all," Mr. Brennan said. He said it was important to remember that terrorist groups like al Qaeda and ISIS do believe their actions are consistent with their religious views. But Mr. Brennan rejected the idea that those views represent Islam, calling the terrorists "criminals...psychopathic thugs and murderers." "It does injustice to the tenants of religion when we attach a religious moniker to them," Mr. Brennan said. "The words that we use can have resonance...We don't want to give them any type of religious legitimacy because what they do has no basis in any upstanding religion." President Barack Obama has come under fire from some conservative commentators and politicians for not identifying the extremists with the religion they claim to represent. Addressing the criticism head on at the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism last month, Obama said that those who use the religious descriptors are peddling a "lie" that helps ISIS recruit Muslims to its cause. An estimated 20,000 foreign fighters, including several thousand from Western countries, have traveled to the region to join ISIS, which has proven adept at using social media to reach a global audience. Brennan announced last week a sweeping reorganization of the CIA that included the creation of a new "Directorate of Digital Innovation" devoted to cyber operations. Brennan also said that changing technology and social media websites have "greatly amplified" the security threats facing the free world. Mr. Brennan explained that the Islamic State group, for example, uses new technologies to "coordinate operations, attract new recruits, disseminate propaganda, and inspire sympathizers across the globe to act in their name," Reuters reported. "The overall threat of terrorism is greatly amplified by today's interconnected world, where an incident in one corner of the globe can instantly spark a reaction thousands of miles away; and where a lone extremist can go online and learn how to carry out an attack without ever leaving home," he said. Mr. Brennan said the January attack on France's Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper was an example of how social media can aid and promote decentralized terror threats.
