Why the Obama administration�s authorization for the use of military force against the Islamic State is intentionally an open-ended ticket to forever war � again.

Writing in Foreign Policy, Emerson Brooking argues that, given ISIS� strategically significant use of social media for recruiting and messaging, any comprehensive plan to defeat the terror network must also neutralize its online presence. He proposes the creation of a bounty system that would pay hacktivists in anonymized Bitcoin to flag ISIS social media accounts and disrupt its websites.�

John Campbell,�CFR�s Ralph Bunche senior fellow for Africa policy studies, discusses the political and security implications of Nigeria�s Independent National Elections Commission�s decision to postpone the February 14, 2015 presidential elections until March 28, 2015,�as part of CFR's Academic Conference Call series.

ISIS may use terrorism as a tactic, but it is not a terrorist organization. Rather, it is a pseudo-state led by a conventional army. So the counterterrorism strategies that were useful against al Qaeda won�t work in the fight against ISIS.

Terrorism today is increasingly transnational, geographically dispersed, and ideologically diverse, says CFR�s Stewart Patrick.

Though we may be disturbed by Isis�s Manifesto for Women, it also provides a manual for how we fight back in the propaganda war.

What CFR.org editors are reading the�week of January 26�30, 2015.

Ed Husain, CFR�s adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies, discusses countering the Islamist narrative,�as part of�CFR's Religion and Foreign Policy Conference Call series.

If we don't act now, it may not be long before we see women committing acts of terror in Western cities

How should technology firms balance the privacy demands of customers with the security concerns of government? Three experts weigh in.

The Obama administration will be tempted to take a victory lap because of recent news that Kurdish militiamen have regained control of Kobani, a Syrian town near the border with Turkey. ISIS forces that had been attacking it for months have melted away. This is, to be sure, a nice achievement, but its wider significance is limited.

Counterterrorism strategies of the past thirteen years have relied upon a myth of 9/11: terrorists require safe havens to conduct international terrorist attacks. Micah Zenko and Amelia M. Wolf argue that there is no evidence to support this assumption, which most recently served as the basis for launching a war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Among the threats facing the new Saudi leadership is the likelihood that ISIS, drawing on resentful youth, will try to destabilize the country, writes CFR�s Richard N. Haass.

A new interactive, "InfoGuide: The Taliban," examines the two Talibans, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the consequences for the region.

The Taliban has�outlasted the world�s most potent military forces and its two main factions now challenge the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan.� As U.S. troops draw down, the next phase of conflict will have consequences that extend far beyond the region.

Ed Husain describes the need for secular pluralism�a secularism that welcomes religion in the public space�to combat Islamism in Europe.

The Taliban has outlasted the world�s most potent military forces, and its two main factions now challenge the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan. As U.S. troops draw down, the next phase of conflict has consequences that extend far beyond the region.

Terrorism Research Links provide news, definitions and history, terrorism organizations and networks, responses to terrorism, resources on 9/11 and more.

If the United States can persuade Pakistan to try anti-India militants in its newly established terrorism courts, it will help defuse an Indo-Pakistani crisis, writes CFR's Daniel Markey.