Combating Terrorism Center#CTC Sentinel

At the time of the attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001, West Point's counterterrorism curriculum consisted of a single elective class."Yesterday's Developments at a Glance," The San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 February 2003 In order to fill this gap and provide greater educational resources in terrorism-related issues, the academy welcomed the creation of the Combating Terrorism Center and included it in its Department of Social Sciences on 20 February 2003. Though thus a part of the United States Military Academy, the CTC was established with private funding and is an independent research group.{{cite web|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/14/news/terror.php|title=Jihadi Ideology is Spreading Online|access-date=2007-05-24|archive-date=6 May 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070506162229/http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/14/news/terror.php|url-status=live}} Primary funding for the founding of the CTC was contributed by Vincent Viola, a 1977 graduate of the United States Military Academy and former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange; significant initial support was also provided by Ross Perot, George Gilmore Jr. and Major (ret.) George Gilmore Sr.{{cite web|url=http://www.ctc.usma.edu/CTC-SUMMER-FALL-06.pdf|title=CTC Semiannual Report, Summer-Fall 2006|access-date=2007-05-22}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}} The center's first Distinguished Chair was General (Retired) Wayne A. Downing until his death in 2007. Ambassador Dell L. Dailey presently holds the Distinguished Chair. The current director, LTC(P) Sean Morrow, began his tenure in January 2021.{{cite web |title=CTC welcomes new director |url=https://ctc.westpoint.edu/ctc-welcomes-new-director-2/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526160930/https://ctc.westpoint.edu/ctc-welcomes-new-director-2/ |archive-date=26 May 2022 |access-date=2022-05-26 }}

{{wikisource|Harmony and Disharmony: Exploiting al-Qa'ida's Organizational Vulnerabilities}}

In addition to providing counterterrorism education, the CTC also regularly publishes a wide range of analyses and reports in its subject-specialty areas. Some of the most significant and large-scale of these research and analysis products are detailed below.

The Militant Ideology Atlas{{cite web|url=http://www.ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Atlas-ResearchCompendium1.pdf|title=Militant Ideology Atlas|access-date=2007-08-05|archive-date=28 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728025922/http://www.ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Atlas-ResearchCompendium1.pdf|url-status=live}} used citation analysis to provide the first systematic mapping of the ideologues most influential in the global jihadi movement.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/15/washington/15terror.html?ex=1182744000&en=5698d94a41ff2c49&ei=5070 |title=Qaeda Leaders Losing Sway Over Militants, Study Finds |access-date=2007-06-23 |work=The New York Times |first=Mark |last=Mazzetti |date=15 November 2006 |archive-date=25 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425113734/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/15/washington/15terror.html?ex=1182744000&en=5698d94a41ff2c49&ei=5070 |url-status=live }} Analyzing the most downloaded jihadi literature from one of al-Qa'ida's online libraries and cataloging more than 11,000 citations from these texts, the Militant Ideology Atlas found that the most influential living jihadi thinkers are not – as is commonly supposed – senior leaders of al-Qa'ida itself, but rather a handful of primarily Saudi and Jordanian clerics; the most widely cited writer is the Palestinian-Jordanian Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi.{{cite web|url=http://www.ctc.usma.edu/atlas/Atlas-ExecutiveReport.pdf |title=Militant Ideology Atlas, Executive Report |access-date=2007-06-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630161636/http://www.ctc.usma.edu/atlas/Atlas-ExecutiveReport.pdf |archive-date=30 June 2007 }} The Atlas was published in November 2006.

Harmony Database Reports are works of analysis and policy recommendation produced by the CTC on the basis of documents declassified for this purpose by the Defense Department from the latter's Harmony Database, which houses al-Qa'ida-related documents captured throughout the world in the course of the War on Terror. The CTC's first Harmony report, Harmony and Disharmony: Exploiting al-Qa'ida's Organizational Vulnerabilities, was published in February 2006 and, along with extensive analysis, made primary source documents from the Harmony Database available to the public for the first time.{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-02-16-al-qaeda-struggles_x.htm |title=Al-Qaeda documents show inner struggles, strategies |access-date=2007-05-21 |work=USA Today |first1=John |last1=Diamond |date=16 February 2006 |archive-date=28 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111228003018/http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-02-16-al-qaeda-struggles_x.htm |url-status=live }} According to the CTC, Harmony and Disharmony "includes a theoretically informed analysis of potential opportunities to exploit al-Qa'ida's network vulnerabilities, a case study of jihadi operational failure, and specific recommendations for effectively addressing the evolving al-Qa'ida threat."{{cite web|url=http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/harmony-and-disharmony-exploiting-al-qaidas-organizational-vulnerabilities |title=Harmony and Disharmony: Exploiting al-Qa'ida's Organizational Vulnerabilities |access-date=2007-06-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070608013637/http://www.ctc.usma.edu/aq.asp |archive-date=8 June 2007 |url-status=dead }} The CTC's second major Harmony report focussed on the Horn of Africa. Released in May 2007 al-Qa'ida's (Mis)Adventures in the Horn of Africa.{{cite web |url=http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/al-qaidas-misadventures-in-the-horn-of-africa |title=Al-Qa'ida's (Mis)Adventures in the Horn of Africa |publisher=Combating Terrorism Center at West Point |date=9 March 1993 |access-date=2013-02-02 |archive-date=13 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513064033/http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/al-qaidas-misadventures-in-the-horn-of-africa |url-status=live }} provides a detailed picture of al-Qa'ida's efforts to establish itself in East Africa, what its successes and failures were in the region, and how conditions in weak and failed states affect the ability of jihadi groups to function. The report also included a second batch of declassified documents from the Harmony Database, with full English translations, and in-depth profiles of key figures and groups. The entire report can be downloaded.http://www.ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Al-Qaidas-MisAdventures-in-the-Horn-of-Africa.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728030117/http://www.ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Al-Qaidas-MisAdventures-in-the-Horn-of-Africa.pdf |date=28 July 2011 }} {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}} The third Harmony report explores al-Qa'ida's internal conflicts over the course of its history. Released in October 2007, Cracks in the Foundation: Leadership Schisms in al-Qa'ida from 1989–2006{{cite web |url=http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/cracks-in-the-foundation-leadership-schisms-in-al-qaida-from-1989-2006 |title=Cracks in the Foundation |publisher=Combating Terrorism Center at West Point |date=11 September 2001 |access-date=2013-02-02 |archive-date=11 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611002216/http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/cracks-in-the-foundation-leadership-schisms-in-al-qaida-from-1989-2006 |url-status=live }} analyzes further declassified Harmony documents in order to tease out the issues that have divided al-Qa'ida's leadership and details the factions that have struggled for control of the organization.

Islamic Imagery Project published the first complete catalog of important, recurring images used in violent jihadi propaganda with explanations to enhance the understanding for students, teachers, and policy makers.{{cite web |year=2006 |url=http://www.ctc.usma.edu/pdf/CTC%20--%20Islamic%20Imagery%20Project.pdf |title=Motifs in Jihadi Internet Propaganda |publisher=ctc.usma.edu |access-date=28 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100415034137/http://www.ctc.usma.edu/pdf/CTC%20--%20Islamic%20Imagery%20Project.pdf |archive-date=15 April 2010 |url-status=dead }}

CTC Sentinel is a monthly, interdisciplinary journal that covers research and news.{{cite web |url=http://www.ctc.usma.edu/publications/sentinel |title=CTC Sentinel |publisher=Combating Terrorism Center at West Point |access-date=2013-02-02 |archive-date=15 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515015909/http://www.ctc.usma.edu/publications/sentinel |url-status=live }} The Atlantic describes it as "a leading practitioner-oriented journal on terrorism and counterterrorism issues."{{cite news|last1=Cottee|first1=Simon|title=The Myth of the ISIS Female Suicide Bomber|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/09/isis-female-suicide-bomber/539172/|access-date=17 October 2017|work=The Atlantic|date=8 September 2017|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602171949/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/09/isis-female-suicide-bomber/539172/|url-status=live}}

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Category:2003 establishments in New York (state)

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Category:Terrorism research institutes