The ideological/propaganda challenge of the Islamic State is unique in terms of both message and propagation. Much hyperbole has gone into either exaggerating or minimizing this challenge for reasons sometimes only tangentially connected with the threat. Fernandez’s remarks place the potent ISIS narrative within the broader context of a deep crisis of authority in the Sunni Arab Muslim world, facilitated by regional events and amplified by historic, regional political-military shifts and an ongoing global revolution in the use of social media.

Ambassador Alberto M. Fernandez is Vice-President of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) and board member of the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University. He retired in 2015 after 32 years in the U.S. Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor. Ambassador Fernandez served as Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassies in Khartoum, Sudan and Malabo, Equatorial Guinea and was Coordinator at the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC) from 2012 to 2015. He also served in senior public diplomacy positions in Afghanistan, Jordan, Guatemala, Syria, Kuwait, and in the State Department’s Near East Bureau (NEA) in Washington, D.C.Sponsored by the Duke University Center for International Studies (DUCIS) and the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security (TCTHS).