(TLP:CLEAR) CTC Sentinel – July 2026: Understanding Terrorists Increasing Use of Artificial Intelligence

Summary: The Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point published its “Sentinel” magazine for July 2026. This latest issue examines the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) by terrorists and how the industry’s current safety guardrails are failing. Another piece explores how drug cartels differ from more traditional terrorist organizations.

Analyst Note: The issue’s feature article is by the founder and executive director of Tech Against Terrorism, Adam Hadley. He identifies significant gaps in AI safety that could be exploited by terrorist actors, particularly the risk of ‘abliteration’—or removal of an AI model’s capacity to refuse—on open-weight models. Mr. Hadley writes, “Tech Against Terrorism’s incident tracker records more than 30 cases in which artificial intelligence served as an operational assistant in a real plot or attack, involving at least 11 distinct tools and linked to more than 70 deaths.”

In the issue’s cover article, Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown explains how the objectives and motivations of cartels differ from those of more traditional terrorist organizations. On emerging issues, she states, “Whether it’s criminal groups or terrorist groups, the future, in my view, is much less dependent on the nexus of crime and terrorism. The hallmark of the future will be the ability of non-state armed groups to conduct a wide variety of activities at home and on their own. AI and 3D printing will allow groups to produce weapons and fake passports.” Therefore, Dr. Felbab-Brown adds, “There will be far less dependence on long, extensive cross-border supply chains in existence. The simplification of logistics will vastly empower non-state armed actors. Both criminal actors and terrorist actors will be able to have far longer reach with much less manpower.” Lastly, another relevant article analyzes a string of recent nihilistic violent extremist (NVE) cases in Italy.

Original Source: https://ctc.westpoint.edu/ctc-sentinel/

Additional Reading:

• How terror groups are now using AI to improve attacks

Related WaterISAC PIRs: 2 & 4