Brides of ISIS.

• Author: Speckhard, Anne
• Position: ISIS recruiting young Western women - Worldview

ALL OVER the world, young Western women are slipping out of their bedrooms, giving silent farewells, and leaving heart-rending notes to their families apologizing for their sudden disappearances. Girls are leaving from Paris, London, Glasgow, Denver, Sydney, and other cities across the globe. Their stories differ, yet they are the same in many respects. These individuals are seduced over the Internet by men and women already in ISIS. Taking flights to Turkey and creeping over borders, they surreptitiously make their way into Syria and Iraq--often leaving little trace.

They leave home for multiple reasons--in a quest for romance; adventure; purity; seeking what they believe is the "true Islam"; reacting out of anger over geopolitics; disillusionment with the societies they live in; lured by promises of family, home, even riches if they go to join ISIS--to take part in, and build up, what they believe will become a utopian society. Some of those who consider going, but decide not to, instead may opt to "stay and act in place"--plotting for, or actually carrying out, lethal attacks in their own countries. Both types of women are lethal ladies--brides and servants of ISIS--whose roles are expanding, and what they are capable of we still do not understand fully.

What started as small drips from many places has increased to a steady stream of young women disappearing from their homes and families to show up later as terrorist cadres. Women and girls now make up nearly one-fifth of the 20,000 foreigners estimated to have gone to fight with ISIS and related groups. Most become brides of ISIS cadres and then mothers of their children, but some have taken on other roles--and the roles they may take will continue to shape the battle with this new global enemy.

"ISIS is more aggressively recruiting women than any other terror group has, and is luring them by painting a false narrative about what life is like in Syria," says Michael Steinbach, head of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division. "We have seen everything from a female fighter--dedicated groups of women fighters--and those who have come over to support foreign fighters by marrying them."

Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in July, FBI Director James Comey announced that ISIS is using Twitter and encryption to recruit thousands of English-language followers and send out orders. According to Comey, ISIS reaches many thousands of followers on Twitter, some of whom then are moved onto encrypted messaging platforms as they are pulled into the terrorist group. "Our job is to look at a haystack the size of...