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 139

    This is an administrative complaint document transferring responsibility for a complaint from one office to another.

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 138

    This is a complaint from an individual renting a home who says that some IS officials from an office with...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 137

    This is an administrative complaint memo seeking to involve the Zakat and Charity Center in getting payment for an unpaid...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 136

    This is a complaint from a soldier who was punished for numerous absences and eventually transferred to a new position....

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 135

    This is a version of a complaint in which an individual is frustrated with the housing office for taking his...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 134

    This is a complaint from some soldiers who want to go fight, but are being denied the opportunity to do...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 133

    This is a complaint from an IS military nurse who claims that the secuirty personnel are exercising poor operational security...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 132

    This is a complaint from a training camp graduate who states that he completed the requisite religious and military training...

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