“Al Qaida is a cult-like organization drawing to it youthful adherents from Muslim countries and communities around the world with the objective of restoring ‘the caliphate’,” said Charles E. Allen, undersecretary of homeland security for intelligence and analysis.

“Despite abhorring many aspects of modernity, Al Qaidahas made significant and effective use of the internet to promote its unrelenting and violent ideology,” he said.

“Al Qaida employs the internet to transmit globally its messages and the numbers of such messages have increased exponentially over the last 18 months.”