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Harmony Program

The CTC launched the Harmony Program in 2005 in order to release and analyze documents from the Department of Defense’s Harmony database. The focus of this program is to contextualize the inner-functioning of al-Qa’ida, its associated movement, and other security threats through primary source documents. Harmony products released by the CTC are typically accompanied by an analytical report and the primary source material from which its conclusions are based. By releasing this material, the CTC aims to make these sources, which are captured in the course of operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other theaters, available to other scholars for further study.

While captured documents offer unique insight into the decision-making process of terrorist groups they are most valuable when contextualized with information drawn from other sources. Scholars and practitioners should be aware that analyzing such data is fraught with risk. Documents in the Harmony database were collected on the battlefield unscientifically. There is no way to know just how representative documents captured by U.S. forces are of the larger body of information produced by al‐Qa`ida or other insurgents. Likewise, the vast database in which they are stored is imperfect and virtually impossible to search systematically. Readers and researchers should therefore be wary of conclusions drawn from Harmony documents alone.

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Featured Documents

`Atiyah’s Letter to Zarqawi

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This is a letter from `Atiyah `Abd al-Rahman, mostly known as `Atiyatullah al-Libi, to Abu Mus`ab al-Zarqawi. The letter was...

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Zawahiri’s Letter to Zarqawi

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This is a critical letter from Ayman al-Zawahiri to Abu Mus`ab al-Zarqawi in which the author presents his strategy of...

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Letter from UBL to `Atiyatullah Al-Libi 4

SOCOM-2012-0000019

This document is a long letter authored by Usama bin Ladin after the death of Sheikh Sa'id (Mustafa Abu'l-Yazid) in...

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Lessons Learned from the Jihad Ordeal in Syria

AFGP-2002-600080

This is a lengthy document that examines the jihad waged by the Muslim Brotherhood against the Syrian regime of Hafiz...

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Title

Description

Reference Number

  • Caliphate Complaint Box 337

    The complianant is an elderly man who lived in a house but he was being threatened with eviction. He said...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 336

    This complaint is regarding an emir or leader who allegedly withheld food, beat the complainant, and threatened to “cut him...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 335

    The complainant tried to sell his gun in order to get medical treatment; the person to whom he sold it...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 334

    This complaint is regarding an Islamic State member who ran over someone’s son and did not provide recompense or additional...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 333

    This a complaint from a father who says that his son died in combat for Islamic State and he is...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 332

    This is a complaint regarding an Islamic State brother who came and insulted and threatened an individual.

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 331

    This is a complaint from an individual who is complaining about someone who keeps bringing young men in front of...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 330

    The complainant alleges that an individual who claimed to be a sharia judge came to the complainant’s house and criticized...

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