Strategy, History, & Goals

Ends, ways, and means. Terrorist organizations are familiar with these concepts and the development of strategy too. Over the course of our history the CTC has studied and released reports and articles about terrorist goals and strategy. Browse the content below to learn more.

February 24, 2022

A Prison Attack and the Death of its Leader: Weighing Up the Islamic State’s Trajectory in Syria

Charlie Winter, Abdullah Alrhmoun

A View from the CT Foxhole: Randall Blake, Former National Intelligence Officer for Transnational Threats, National Intelligence Council

Paul Cruickshank, Kristina Hummel, Don Rassler

Trends in Iranian External Assassination, Surveillance, and Abduction Plots

Matthew Levitt

January 27, 2022

The Islamic State Threat in Taliban Afghanistan: Tracing the Resurgence of Islamic State Khorasan

Amira Jadoon, Abdul Sayed, Andrew Mines

A View from the CT Foxhole: Amy Zegart, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University

Don Rassler, Brian Fishman

The Islamic State at Low Ebb in Iraq: The Insurgent Tide Recedes Again

Michael Knights, Alex Almeida

December 22, 2021

A View from the CT Foxhole: Brigadier Rob Stephenson, Deputy Commander, NATO Special Operations Headquarters

Seth Loertscher, Connor Ingleson, James Garrison

The Oath Keepers and Their Role in the January 6 Insurrection

Matthew Kriner, Jon Lewis

November 17, 2021

“Without Us, There Would Be No Islamic State:” The Role of Civilian Employees in the Caliphate

Matthew Bamber

A View from the CT Foxhole: General Richard D. Clarke, Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command

Sean Morrow, Nicholas Tallant