CTC Harmony Document magazine cover

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

  • Caliphate Complaint Box 155

    This is a complaint against an individual that works at the Real Estate office. The complainant says that he was...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 154

    This a a complaint from a woman who says that her Zakat card was taken from her and she seems...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 153

    This is a complaint from an individual asking Islamic State to remove the current occupant of a house so that...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 152

    This is a response from the Hisbah office after investigating a complaint. They state that the claim is invalid and...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 151

    This letter is a partial letter of complaint that does not specify the nature of the complaint, although the author...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 150

    This is a complaint from a woman stating that her new marriage was not recognized and nobody will help her...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 149

    This is a complaint from a woman who claims that her ex-husband filed a complaint that led the police to...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 148

    This is an administrative document transferring the case of a complaint from the provincial governor’s office to a judge.

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