One of the first Somali-Americans from the Twin Cities to join a terrorist group overseas is a prominent online recruiter. “He can empathize with any grievances, any feelings of persecution or feeling disaffected, and he can use those and exploit them,” said David Ibsen, executive director of the Counter Extremism Project, based in New York.  Ibsen, who calls Hassan a “notorious cyber jihadi,” says Hassan’s influence was clear in the case of the shooting in Texas.