What wanna-be jihadis do in their mother's kitchen

When I first learned that al-Qaeda's English-language Inspire magazine led with an article called "Make a Bomb in Your Mother's Kitchen," written by a 25 year old from North Carolina, my first instinct was to laugh. After all, one's life has probably hit rock-bottom when you're sitting in your mom's kitchen googling how to wreck havoc on the infidels.

Western intelligence agencies found the article in now-deceased Anwar al-Awlaki's magazine an easy target for somewhat sarcastic cyber attack. In June 2011, Britain's MI6 hacked into the website and replaced the bomb-making instructions with how to make Ellen DeGenere's best cupcakes in America. I'm sure those who tried downloading the instructions particularly appreciated the mojito cupcake recipe.

Months later, AQ's outreach to the English-speaking world is proving to be anything but funny. Both al-Awlaki and the 25 year old North Carolinian Samir Khan have been killed in drone strikes, but Inspire and other AQ-affiliated English publications are alarmingly successfully recruiting European and American lone wolves to their cause. Jose Pimentel was arrested for building a pipe bomb in his mother's house to target military and government sites New York City. Army Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo was charged with planning to bomb a restaurant filled with troops from nearby Fort Hood in Texas; authorities found the article in his backpack. Two German Muslim converts, Christian Emde and Robert Baum, were stopped in Dover, UK, with the article, among others. And just this week, four British citizens pled guilty to planning an attack on the London Stock Exchange using homemade explosives following Inspire's instructions.

The magazine remains online, with thousands of followers. Its popularity is just one in many signs of the dangers a fragmented AQ poses to the United States and her allies. In fact, in this week's spy chief briefing on global threats on the Hill, DNI chief James Clapper noted that while AQ's core may be weakened, its franchises and the homegrown violent extremists (HVEs, more commonly referred to as lone wolves) continue to be a threat.

"The movement will continue to be a dangerous transnational force, regardless of the status of core al-Qa'ida, its affiliates, and its allies. Terrorist groups and individuals sympathetic to the jihadist movement will have access to the recruits, financing, arms and explosives, and safe haves needed to execute operations."

HVEs and franchises may (thus far) be less lethal than pre-9/11 AQ Central, as they lack the capability to pull off another attack on the level of 9/11. But they are much more difficult to stop.