social media and other  technology are making it increasingly difficult to combat  militants who are using such modern resources to share  information and conduct operations, the head of the us central  intelligence agency said on friday cia director john brennan, in a speech in new york, said  such communications only add to the difficulty of dealing with  diffuse threats and attacks across the world from groups like  islamic state, known also as isil, and others 'new technologies can help groups like isil coordinate  operations, attract new recruits, disseminate propaganda, and  inspire sympathizers across the globe to act in their name,' brennan said, using an acronym for the militant group that has  taken hold in syria and iraq scroll down for video  worrying trend: cia director john brennan (pictured), in a speech in new york, said social media and other technology are making it increasingly difficult to combat militants  'the overall threat of terrorism is greatly amplified by  today's interconnected world, where an incident in one corner of  the globe can instantly spark a reaction thousands of miles  away; and where a lone extremist can go online and learn how to  carry out an attack without ever leaving home,' brennan said speaking at the council on foreign relations, brennan cited  a recent spate of attacks, including shootings at the french  satirical newspaper charlie hebdo, at a cafe in copenhagen,  denmark and a pakistani school 'these attacks underscore a disturbing trend that we havebeen monitoring for some time: the emergence of a terroristthreat that is increasingly decentralized, difficult to track,and difficult to thwart' flocking to fight: more than 210,000 people have been killed in syria since the uprising began in march 2011   now more fighters are flocking to the area as social media helps draw new recruits  the security concerns over the last year underscore an  increasingly volatile world with more outbreaks of instability  since the fall of the soviet union, brennan said and while agencies such as the cia have worked to boost  their capability of fighting cyber based threats, those bent on  committing acts of terror have also improved their use of  technologies, he added brennan said governments would have to work with private  industry and other partners to identify and track down  extremists, pointing to the ongoing conflict in syria and iraq  and the challenge of foreign fighters engaging in the conflict  there as a top priority there, he said, 'at least 20,000 fighters from more than 90  countries have gone to fight   several thousand of them from  western nations, including the united states'
cia john brennan new york
cia director john brennan, in a speech in new york, said e communications only add to the difficulty of dealing with diffuse threats . he added the new technologies can help attract new recruits, disseminate propaganda, and inspire sympathizers across the globe 