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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 394

    This is a partial complaint which seems to indicate a housing dispute between two parties.

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 393

    This complaint is from three Islamic State soldiers who say that they have a medical exemption from being transferred, yet...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 392

    This complaint is from a grandfather whose son was killed while working for Islamic State. The grandfather is taking care...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 391

    This complaint is from an Islamic State soldier who is seeking help due to injuries that he sustained in conflict.

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 390

    This is a cover sheet that is transferring a complaint from one office to another.

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 389

    This is a partial complaint about an effort to search a home for a person that is wanted by Islamic...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 388

    This document contains testimony about witnessed behavior (possibly based on a complaint). The behavior was that a Russian foreign fighter...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 387

    In this complaint an individual says that although he was awarded a house from the Real Estate bureau, some other...

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