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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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Filter Harmony Documents

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Title

Description

Reference Number

  • Caliphate Complaint Box 279

    This is a complaint in which an individual claims that he and his family were harrassed at a checkpoint because...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 278

    This is a complaint with very few details, but is between two individuals, one of whom threatens to hit the...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 277

    This is a complaint about a person who joined Islamic State but who “talks badly” and whose family has “a...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 276

    This is a complaint from a man claims he was transferred to a new unit, but left his pistol with...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 275

    This is a complaint from a member of the Islamic State police went to the Real Estate official to get...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 274

    This complaint is from a generator operator who seems to be receiving pressure from a Hisbah official to run his...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 273

    This is a complaint from a driver who says that the local Islamic State official is using his own truck...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 272

    This complaint is from a worker against his boss in the Islamic State police, who claims that he wasted gas.

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