The magazine’s name – “Inspire” – suggests the content could be about improving your health, or maybe gardening. It’s not, says the Cincinnati Enquirer. Page 62 features an article titled “Car Bombs Inside America,” with a how-to guide for building bombs in your kitchen. Page 15 promotes the setting of forest fires in the U.S. as part of an “arson jihad.” Page 33 boasts a first-person account of “Why I Joined al-Qaida.” In the world of the modern-day jihadi recruiter, an Islamic radical makes a pitch to potential converts with the fervor of a religious zealot and the skill of a Madison Avenue ad executive. The FBI says those recruiters found a willing subject in Ohio last year, when Christopher Cornell, 20, took a deep dive into the Internet’s pool of pro-jihadi videos and propaganda.
Cornell’s journey ended with his arrest last week on charges of plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol. It appears to have begun, as it has for thousands of others, with the click of a mouse. “The phenomena of social media recruitment is key,” said Ed Bridgeman, a criminal justice professor at the University of Cincinnati. “There’s an al-Qaida and ISIS recruiter in every living room now, potentially.” For someone like Cornell, who appears to have few friends and a penchant for anti-government conspiracy theories, the radical Islam he discovered online might have resonated “This guy’s story is very typical,” said Max Abrahms, a Northeastern University terrorism specialist. “They don’t come up with these ideas on their own, and it’s not surprising he’d be based in Ohio. The Internet is everywhere. “It’s exactly what al-Qaida and the Islamic State are shooting for.”