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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 123

    This complaint describes an attempt by IS security forces to recover a debt which resulted in a raid and arrest...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 122

    This person is complaining that an IS member kidnapped a girl in order to force a marriage to another; then,...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 121

    This complaint document describes a disagreement about the placement of an IED and the administrative disorder that resulted as a...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 120

    This complaint is from an individual who is owed a debt by an IS member who was killed.

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 119

    This complaint is based on a verbal exchange in which one person referred to the police as “soft,” which caused...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 118

    This complaint document describes individuals who were driven out of their home and not given a place to live.

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 117

    In this complaint, an indiviudal IS member is asking a transfer and chance to fight, but has not received a...

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  • Caliphate Complaint Box 116

    This complaint describes people being imprisoned for a month, including pregnant wife, who miscarried because she heard her husband being...

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