The Black Flag

So, what exactly is The Black Flag?

I’ve often been asked if it refers to the insecticide or the 80’s Punk Rock band Black Flag. What it really comes down to is a reference to Salafist imagery in The Black Flag (al-raya) . Imagery is very important to the Salafist and you’ll see items such as swords, weapons and blood used repeatedly used in their text and communications.

This is not by accident, the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point describes it as follows.

The Black Flag (al-raya) traces its roots to the very beginning of Islam. It was the battle (jihad) flag of the Prophet Muhammad, carried into battle by many of his companions, including his nephew ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib. The flag regained prominence in the 8th century with its use by the leader of the Abbasid revolution, Abu Muslim, who led a revolt against the Umayyad clan and its’ Caliphate. The Umayyads, the ruling establishment of the Islamic world at the time, were seen as greedy, gluttonous, and religiously wayward leaders. The Abbasid revolution, then, was aimed at installing a new, more properly Islamic ruling house that would keep orthodox Islam at the center of its regime. Since then, the image of the black flag has been used as a symbol of religious revolt and battle (i.e. jihad). In Shiite belief, the black flag also evokes expectations about the afterlife. In the contemporary Islamist movement, the black flag is used to symbolize both offensive jihad and the proponents of reestablishing the Islamic Caliphate.

The content of The Black Flag blog typically revolves around the “War on Terror” with a focus on counter terrorism, information warfare and information security. There may be any number of contributors here and they are listed below.

blackflag:

I am a veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States of America.

I am pro-victory and pro-U.S. Military.

I currently work in the “Information Security” field, primarily involved with intrusion detection, risk assessment, risk reduction and computer security incident response. Basically, “hacking, cracking and computer security”, et al. I also perform independent research in the Information/Cyber Warfare and Counter Terrorism realms and these interests are reflected in the content of this site.

Don’t let the name fool you, I am anonymous here by choice, the information covered here is sought after by both sides and I feel it is important to maintain a bit of discretion with my work.

If you wish to contact me directly I am available via email at:

blackflag.security AT gmail DOT com

If you feel the need to contact me securely I can provide a PGP/GPG encryption key on request.

Howie:

Contributor at The Jawa Report and master of Howies Moisture Farm.

email:

mchlhwrd AT gmail DOT com