THE THREAT PRESENTED BY THE ISLAMIC STATE IS TAKING ON A NEW FORM

The threat presented by the Islamic State is taking on a new form: Child terrorists either directly in contact with or inspired by the militant group. 

Even as it suffers setbacks on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State is cultivating adolescents in the West, who are being asked to stay in their home countries and strike targets with whatever weapons are available, such as knives and crude bombs.

"They've built a structured recruitment process. They're online, scanning for young adults," Koehler said. "They have stages of [cultivation]. They won't even mention violence until later in their contact, until they've built up trust with these younger recruits."

"What is really worrying is that people frequently look the other way. They say it's just a phase of adolescence and surely they will grow out of it. Often parents don't really know what their children are doing in their rooms."

"The amount of Islamic State videos and propaganda aimed at children has really jumped in recent months," said Daniel Koehler, director of the German Institute on Radicalization and Deradicalization Studies. "We haven't seen anything quite like this, not on this scale and of this quality. They know that in the West, you don't expect a 10-year-old to be a terror suspect."

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