Don Morgan, an American who tried and failed to Join ISIS. What to do with him?

1LT Sandy Annala I agree that he is hard to read, but he seems to be a frustrated teenager in a 44 year old body. Like Peter Pan, he has not grown up and continues to search for what he wants to be when he grows up, as long it involves bossing someone else around or, as you picked up, killing someone.

I appreciate your response. Great insight.

CMDCM Gene Treants. I was reading a brief assessment report recently suggesting that for young men seeking to join terrorist or suicide bombing groups that . . . they sometimes find in their search for personal identity and belonging that the T/S group becomes their sole source of support and friendship. Their sense of belonging, meaning in life, even their sense of identity, is then derived from the relationships within the group. This study found that about 70% of T/S group members joined together while originally coming from different countries and cultures. Prior their get-together they were looking for jobs and education and were not strongly religious. This suggests that social networking to befriend potential recruits . . . and uprooting these young men from their home environment . . . may be important / key factors in recruiting and assembling T/S groups.

Perhaps the take home message may be we should try to provide constructive alternative options for disaffected /alienated citizens.

Warmest Regards, Sandy

1LT Sandy Annala Looking at this man's story, he really fits the model you describe in that report. He was unable to form any attachments in other types of groups and kept searching, maybe hoping to find it he converted to Islam, but still did not find what he was looking for there either. Still searching, he was looking for ISIS but never made it all the way there.

Your suggestion for "constructive alternative options for disaffected /alienated citizens" sounds like a very good idea, but I have to ask, what and where. I do not have any viable suggestions, but we might need to get some input in this idea and run with it.

CMDCM Gene Treants. I don't have a good answer yet. Part of the problem is the organizations contributing to the assessment have no clear role in domestic policy. How do we connect the dots between the intelligence community and domestic policy? Warmest Regards, Sandy

No arguement

Chute, you don't need no stinking chute!

Oh wait, I just gave him my ruck sack instead of a parachute!