Zenpundit,

I still owe you that coffee...

On topic we (google, yahoo, dogpile, etc.) can see about thirty percent of the Internet (optimistically). Darknet for example on SWC is the area that the registered users, admins, and selected individuals have access to. Darknet is the other side and is where a lot of the coordination, training, and planning activities of the adversary are likely occurring. This can happen on forums, wiki's, IRC, and p2p networks. Like a periscope breaking the surface the recruiting efforts and open Jihadist websites portend much more danger below the surface that their targets may not see.

The openly communicating enemy of the state may expose substantial and influential information simply by the volume of what they are saying. Driving them to ground will only piss them off, and result in little if any security.