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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.

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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Filter Harmony Documents

Title

Description

Reference Number

  • PI for Hani Muhammad al-Shubayli

    This document is an administrative template that carries detailed personal information for a foreign fighter who wished to join the...

    NMEC-2007-657729

  • PI for `Abdullah Bin Salem Bin Muhammad al-Dusari

    This document is an administrative template that carries detailed personal information for a foreign fighter who wished to join the...

    NMEC-2007-657730

  • PI for Sami Rajab Ahmad al-Zahrani

    This document is an administrative template that carries detailed personal information for a foreign fighter who wished to join the...

    NMEC-2007-657732

  • Al-Qa`ida Goals and Structure

    This document outlines the goals and structure of al-Qa`ida’s military, political, administrative and financial, and information committees, as well as...

    AFGP-2002-000078

  • PI for Aydir Mawsuni

    This document is an administrative template that carries detailed personal information for a foreign fighter who wished to join the...

    NMEC-2007-657734

  • Open Letter to King Fahd from bin Laden

    This document is a letter from Usama bin Laden to King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, in which Bin Laden strongly...

    AFGP-2002-000103

  • The Ogaden File: Operation Holding (Al-Msk)

    This document is apparently a personal narrative by Sayf al-Islam that describes how Abu Hafs of al-Qa`ida sent him and...

    AFGP-2002-600104

  • Al-Qa`ida Staff Count Public Appointments

    This document is a management review of al-Qa`ida’s personnel and organizational structure and an exhortation to ensure that the group’s...

    AFGP-2002-000112

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