Isil's security advice to would-be jihadists: Shave your beard, encrypt your phones and wear western clothes

From telegraph.co.uk (Jan. 12):

Islamic State has issued an advice booklet for followers who want to carry out “lone wolf” attacks of the sort that are plaguing European countries.

The booklet, “Safety and security guidelines for lone wolf mujahideen and small cells”, tells readers how to “surprise the enemy” by evading security agencies.

“Any operation that doesn’t have a strong security and precaution base is deemed to fail, just like a big building needs strong foundations,” it says. “Security precautions are the foundations of any operation.”

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It says that lone wolves in particular should try and meld in with the local population, including by “not looking like a Muslim”. That means shaving your beard, wearing western clothes and not attending mosque too frequently.

However, it also realises that this advice might itself cause difficulty, so it goes as far as giving fashion advice.

“Always look like any random tourist or normal traveller,” it says. “Make the colours go with each other. Wearing a red or yellow shirt with black pants (trousers) will get you noticed as someone who is not used to this kind of clothing.

“Also, no need to put on new clothes, as that can be suspicious. Some brothers like to buy entirely new cloths, from top to bottom including shoes, but that will get too much attention.”  [read more]

Basically, blend in is the advice. This is really nothing new. During war time this happens often especially with spies. Islam doesn’t forbid deception. The Islamic State thugs are assuming that countries are not accepting Muslims. This might not be the case—Germany for instance isn’t screening Muslims out—although they could since it isn’t against their laws. Germany doesn’t have freedom of religion. America doesn’t seem to be screening anyone except possibly Christians.

IBN Live.com reports that the manual says it okay for the terrorists to wear crosses as long they don’t have a Muslim sounding name on their passports. Then the screeners could ask (if they are allowed to) what church the refugees belong to, is Jesus the son of God (Muslims don’t believe this), etc. Yes, they could lie but what you are looking for is response time.