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

---

This is a letter from `Atiyah `Abd al-Rahman, mostly known as `Atiyatullah al-Libi, to Abu Mus`ab al-Zarqawi. The letter was...

Read More
Zawahiri’s Letter to Zarqawi

---

This is a critical letter from Ayman al-Zawahiri to Abu Mus`ab al-Zarqawi in which the author presents his strategy of...

Read More
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...

Read More
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...

Read More

Filter Harmony Documents

Title

Description

Reference Number

  • Caliphate Complaint Box 370

    This complaint is from an individual who sold a car to an Islamic State police officer, but he was not...

    ---

  • Caliphate Complaint Box 369

    This document is a fragment of a complaint with much substantive information.

    ---

  • Caliphate Complaint Box 368

    This is a complaint form from three Islamic State soldiers who are requesting a transfer from their job as soldiers...

    ---

  • Caliphate Complaint Box 367

    This document is a complaint containing a very short statement authored by a man says that the security police raided...

    ---

  • Caliphate Complaint Box 366

    The complainant says that an Islamic State individual came and took his son away from work and then he heard...

    ---

  • Caliphate Complaint Box 365

    This is a complaint from an individual who claims that he lost his livelihood due to an Islamic State weapons...

    ---

  • Caliphate Complaint Box 364

    This is a complaint from an individual who works for the Islamic State police who says that his neighbor’s home...

    ---

  • Caliphate Complaint Box 363

    The complainant was driving someone to a location when they were stopped at a checkpoint. The checkpoint soldiers asked for...

    ---

Stay Informed

Sign up to receive updates from CTC.

Sign up