Are They “Ticking Time Bombs?” Children and Terrorism

Speaker: Dr. Mia Bloom (Georgia State University)

Date: 9 January 2020

Speaker Session Preview

SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Dr. Mia Bloom (Georgia State University) as a part of its SMA CENTCOM Speaker Series.

During her brief, Dr. Bloom spoke about the roles of women and children in terrorist networks. She explained that each terrorist group’s methods of exploiting women and children is different. She used al-Qaeda in Iraq as an example, highlighting its use of female suicide bombers as its weapon of choice. Al-Qaeda recognized that women are less likely to be searched at checkpoints, tend to blend in with civilian populations better than men, and often wear long, black Islamic robes that can conceal explosives. For these reasons, al-Qaeda has increased its recruitment of women. Dr. Bloom proceeded to provide five primary reasons explaining why women willingly join these groups: 1) for redemption, 2) for revenge, 3) to gain respect, 4) because of existing relationships/ties to that organization, and 5) sexual violence and the accompanying honor code. She highlighted that women raped in traditional societies are often funneled into terrorist organizations because they would otherwise face certain death at the hands of their family members. Other women recruited by terrorist organizations are groomed at a young age and married off to group members, so that they can become bombers. Many of these young women are from the Middle East, Dr. Bloom clarified, despite the large amount of media attention and coverage on those hailing from the West. Next, Dr. Bloom spoke about children as targets of recruitment. She stated that ISIS has taken a unique approach regarding the use of children in propaganda. ISIS is one of the few terrorist organizations that has placed children front and center in its propaganda images. Dr. Bloom spoke about how ISIS solicits charismatic children to speak to large audiences, normalizes war among youths, and “brainwashes” them at an early age via specially tailored teaching materials as well. To conclude, Dr. Bloom spoke about the deradicalization of children and women. She highlighted Saboon in Pakistan, which she deemed the “gold standard” for child deradicalization programs, and raised several questions about the futures of the women and children who were once involved in a terrorist group.

Speaker Session Audio Recording

To access an audio recording of the session, please email Ms. Nicole Omundson (nomundson@nsiteam.com).

Briefing Materials

Biography:

Mia Bloom is a Professor of Communication at Georgia State University. She conducts ethnographic field research in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia and speaks eight languages. She has authored several books and articles on terrorism and violent extremism, including Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror (2005), Living Together After Ethnic Killing [with Roy Licklider] (2007) and Bombshell: Women and Terror (2011). She also has a forthcoming book, entitled Veiled Threats – Women and Jihad (2020). She is a former term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has held research or teaching appointments at Princeton, Cornell, Harvard and McGill Universities.

Under the auspices of the Minerva Research Initiative (MRI) of the Department of Defense, Bloom is currently conducting research on how children become involved in terrorist organizations. Bloom’s findings will be published in a book for Cornell University Press entitled Small Arms: Children and Terror (2019). Bloom has a PhD in political science from Columbia University, a Masters in Arab Studies from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and a Bachelors degree from McGill University in Russian, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies.

This speaker session supported SMA’s CENTCOM project. For additional speaker sessions and project publications, please visit the CENTCOM project page.