--- aliases: - Middlebury Institute CTEC - CTEC - Middlebury CTEC - Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism - Middlebury Institute of International Studies - Middlebury Institute's Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism category: "Private Organization" tags: - Organization - CTEC - MiddleburyInstitute - CounterTerrorism - OnlineExtremism - Accelerationism - OpenAI - TVTP summary: "Research center at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, founded in 2018, whose work on extremist language models, Telegram networks and games drew on OpenAI access, DHS grants and Logically funding." start: 2018 location: "Monterey, California" relations: - type: head_of with: "[[Jason Blazakis]]" reverse: true role: "founding executive director" fn: 4 - type: employed_by with: "[[Alex Newhouse]]" reverse: true end: 2022 role: "deputy director" fn: 2 - type: partner_of with: "[[OpenAI]]" start: 2019 role: "research partner on misuse of GPT-2, then academic API access for GPT-3" fn: 8 - type: funded with: "[[Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships]]" reverse: true start: 2021-10-01 end: 2023-09-30 role: "targeted violence and terrorism prevention grant EMW-2021-GR-00032, game-based curriculum" fn: 10 - type: funded with: "[[Logically]]" reverse: true start: 2022-09 role: "two-year research grant for a cross-platform extremism database" fn: 14 - type: partner_of with: "[[Meta Platforms]]" start: 2022-09-15 role: "research partner named at the White House United We Stand summit" fn: 16 - type: partner_of with: "[[iThrive Games Foundation]]" start: 2021 role: "co-design and testing partner for the DHS-funded game" fn: 12 created: 2026-10-01 updated: 2026-10-01 --- The Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism, known as CTEC, is a research center at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in [[Monterey, California]], part of [[Middlebury College]]. Its stated mission is to advance education, research and intelligence analysis on domestic extremism, transnational emerging threats and trust and safety technology policy, and its website describes work that provides "bespoke analysis for tech and government clients."[^1] ### Founding and staff [[Alex Newhouse]] helped start the center in 2018 while a graduate student at the Institute, first as an independent contractor, then as research lead, and then as deputy director; his biography dates the deputy directorship to 2020, while a Middlebury article of October 27, 2020 lists [[Kris McGuffie]] as deputy director and Newhouse as digital research lead. In 2022 he became a senior research fellow while pursuing a doctorate at the [[University of Colorado Boulder]], and he is listed in 2026 as a non-resident senior fellow. His biography lists earlier work on the data governance and fraud management teams of [[Sony Interactive Entertainment]]. The October 2020 article described the center's staff as working on extremism research projects "for several notable clients" and did not name them.[^2] [[Jason Blazakis]], the center's founding executive director, directed the [[Counterterrorism Finance and Designations Office]] in the [[Bureau of Counterterrorism]] of the [[United States Department of State]] from 2008 to 2018, where his biography says he was responsible for directing efforts to designate states, organizations and individuals as state sponsors of terrorism, foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists. His biography also lists earlier positions at the [[Congressional Research Service]], the [[Bureau of Intelligence and Research]] and the embassy in Kabul, and a senior fellowship at the [[Soufan Center]].[^3] On May 24, 2023 Middlebury announced an anonymous gift of 2 million dollars to expand the center and to provide financial aid to students in the master's program in nonproliferation and terrorism studies. Blazakis was quoted calling it the most significant gift the center had received since its founding in 2018, and the announcement stated that it would support staff positions and senior research scholars.[^4] [[Katharine Petrich]] was named interim director on November 17, 2023, and the center announced on February 12, 2024 that [[Sarah Pollack]] would become its director of tech policy and strategy; the announcement states that Pollack had led communications for the global counter-terrorism and violent extremism program of [[Meta Platforms]].[^5] [[J.M. Berger]] and [[Sam Jackson]] joined as senior research fellows in June 2023, alongside [[Amy Cooter]], then the center's director of research, academic development and innovation.[^6] Pages dated August 2026 identify Blazakis again as executive director.[^7] ### Reports with OpenAI In November 2019 [[OpenAI]] published "Release Strategies and the Social Impacts of Language Models," whose author list includes Newhouse, Blazakis and Kris McGuffie with the affiliation CTEC, alongside OpenAI staff. The report names CTEC as a partner exploring how GPT-2 could be misused by terrorists and extremists, thanks Blazakis and Newhouse for feedback on earlier versions, and reproduces as its Appendix D a CTEC report of October 2019, "The Industrialization of Terrorist Propaganda: Neural Language Models and the Threat of Fake Content Generation," by Newhouse, Blazakis and McGuffie.[^8] In September 2020 McGuffie and Newhouse published "The Radicalization Risks of GPT-3 and Advanced Neural Language Models." The report states on its first page: "This project was made possible by the OpenAI API Academic Access Program." It found that GPT-3 showed significant improvement over GPT-2 in generating extremist texts, and stated that "OpenAI's preventative measures are strong" while describing a risk from unregulated copycat technology.[^9] ### Grants from the Department of Homeland Security The [[Department of Homeland Security]] announced fiscal year 2021 [[Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention]] grants on September 27, 2021. One, of 629,533 dollars, went to CTEC with the [[iThrive Games Foundation]] for a game-based curriculum on radicalization; the federal spending database records it as award EMW-2021-GR-00032 with a period from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2023. Middlebury's announcement of November 9, 2021 gave the amount as 630,000 dollars over two years, with Newhouse as principal investigator.[^10][^11] The DHS announcement of September 14, 2022 listed two further awards connected to Middlebury. One, of 699,763 dollars, went to CTEC for a joint project with the nonprofit [[Take This]] and [[Logically]] to develop "a shared framework for understanding extremism in games," best practices and training workshops for community managers and trust and safety staff. The other, of 659,327 dollars, went to [[Arizona State University]] for the continuation of "Diverting Hate," a project on incel radicalization on [[Twitter]] begun by a student team from the Institute in the [[Invent2Prevent]] program. The federal spending database records a Middlebury College award, EMW-2022-GR-00036, at 686,633.14 dollars.[^10][^11] The Science and Technology Directorate of DHS paid [[RTI International]] to evaluate the 2021 grant, and RTI's profile, dated July 2024 and posted by DHS on January 27, 2025, records that the grant ran from October 2021 to March 2024 including a two-quarter extension. It was the center's first targeted violence prevention grant. The center held two co-design sessions with 22 adolescents and 11 playtests, consulted [[John Horgan]] and [[Christian Picciolini]], and built a single-player dialogue game; 13 adolescents completed it and 9 completed the pre- and post-game surveys, too few for an outcome evaluation. RTI reported delays caused by changes to the game format and difficulty recruiting schools.[^12] [[NCITE]], the DHS Center of Excellence at the University of Nebraska Omaha, was evaluating the same grant program during these years, and RTI International was one of its partners.[^13] ### Funding from technology companies On September 29, 2022 CTEC announced a two-year grant from Logically, a company that describes itself as using artificial intelligence and human expertise against misinformation, to build a cross-platform social media database on the role of extremist organization, narrative creation and disinformation in radicalization, with Newhouse as principal investigator and the senior research scholar [[Matt Kriner]] assisting. The database was to combine archives from [[Telegram]], [[YouTube]], [[Instagram]], Twitter, [[Facebook]], [[Roblox]] and [[Steam]] with leaked material from [[Epik]], the [[Oath Keepers]], [[Iron March]], [[Fascist Forge]] and the [[International Third Positionist Forum]]. CTEC was one of three recipients of grants announced by Logically.[^14] Logically was sold in a pre-pack administration deal confirmed on July 7, 2025, in which [[Kreatur Ltd]], run by a former director and early investor in Logically, acquired its technology, brand and key assets.[^15] Middlebury's account of October 19, 2022 states that CTEC would partner with Meta and the [[White House]] #UnitedWeStand initiative, and that the partnership was announced at the summit of September 15, 2022. It quotes [[Dina Hussein]], then counterterrorism policy lead at Meta, and Newhouse, and states that CTEC "partners with [[Spectrum Labs]] to provide multilingual research support for the construction of artificial intelligence products."[^16] The White House fact sheet for the summit lists Meta among technology companies announcing actions and does not mention CTEC or Middlebury.[^17] ### Telegram networks and the Accelerationism Research Consortium In June 2022 CTEC and [[Tech Against Terrorism]] published a report on two coalitions, the [[United Acceleration Front]] and the [[National Socialist Coalition]], that emerged on Telegram in early 2021 around [[Feuerkrieg Division]] and [[InJekt Division]]. The report states that the two organizations collected and analyzed data from associated channels and chats from June 2021 to February 2022, and that Tech Against Terrorism identified 21 entities in the network.[^18] Middlebury's 2022 account states that CTEC is a founder of the [[Accelerationism Research Consortium]], which it describes as the first research initiative on militant accelerationism, and Kriner is named as the consortium's managing director.[^14][^16] ### Profiles of extremist organizations The center publishes a series titled "Dangerous Organizations and Bad Actors," with profiles that include [[The Base]] (March 6, 2022), the [[Active Club Network]] (March 15, 2023), [[Atomwaffen Division]] (April 12, 2023) and [[National Action]] (August 23, 2023). The profile of The Base states that its founder, [[Rinaldo Nazzaro]], is based in Russia and manages the group from afar, primarily through Telegram.[^19] The October 2020 Middlebury article also refers to a CTEC report of April 2020 on the [[Russian Imperial Movement]], which the State Department designated a specially designated global terrorist entity in the same month.[^2][^20] ### Footnotes [^1]: Middlebury Institute of International Studies, "Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism," home page. https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec [^2]: Middlebury Institute of International Studies, "Alex Newhouse," faculty and fellow profile, https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/people/alex-newhouse ; Eva Gudbergsdottir and Anna Philips, "National Spotlight is on CTEC Counterterrorism Research on White Supremacist Movements," Middlebury Institute, October 27, 2020, https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/news/national-spotlight-ctec-counterterrorism-research-white [^3]: Middlebury Institute of International Studies, "Jason Blazakis," faculty profile. https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/people/jason-blazakis [^4]: Office of Advancement, "$2 Million Gift Will Fund Expansion of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism," Middlebury Institute, May 24, 2023. https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/news/2-million-gift-will-fund-expansion-center-terrorism [^5]: "Katharine Petrich Announced as CTEC's New Interim Director," Middlebury Institute, November 17, 2023, https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/news/katharine-petrich-announced-ctecs-new-interim-director ; Ian Driscoll, "CTEC Announces New Director of Tech Policy and Strategy," Middlebury Institute, February 12, 2024, https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/news/ctec-announces-new-director-tech-policy-and-strategy [^6]: "CTEC Welcomes J.M. Berger and Sam Jackson," Middlebury Institute, June 26, 2023. https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/news/ctec-welcomes-jm-berger-and-sam-jackson [^7]: CTEC home page, news items of May 7 and August 10, 2026, and "CTEC Experts" staff page. https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-experts [^8]: Irene Solaiman, Miles Brundage, Jack Clark, Amanda Askell, Ariel Herbert-Voss, Jeff Wu, Alec Radford, Gretchen Krueger, Jong Wook Kim, Sarah Kreps, Miles McCain, Alex Newhouse, Jason Blazakis, Kris McGuffie and Jasmine Wang, "Release Strategies and the Social Impacts of Language Models," OpenAI Report, November 2019, partnerships section, acknowledgements and Appendix D. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1908.09203 [^9]: Kris McGuffie and Alex Newhouse, "The Radicalization Risks of GPT-3 and Advanced Neural Language Models," Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism, September 16, 2020, executive summary. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2009.06807 [^10]: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, press releases and grantee abstracts for the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program, fiscal years 2021 (September 27, 2021) and 2022 (September 14, 2022), compiled PDF; USAspending.gov award records EMW-2021-GR-00032 (629,533 dollars, October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2023) and EMW-2022-GR-00036 (686,633.14 dollars), recipient "President and Fellows of Middlebury College." https://ecivis-partners.s3.amazonaws.com/bplih/grantfile/2c/2c8da5432f7e05dd7e86265ed0fe7b6e6d3fced9 ; https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/search/spending_by_award/ [^11]: Stephen Diehl, "Middlebury Institute Team Will Develop Game to Counter Extremist Recruitment in Schools," Middlebury Institute, November 9, 2021. https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/news/middlebury-institute-team-will-develop-game-counter [^12]: RTI International, "DHS FY2021 Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grantee Evaluation Site Profile: Middlebury Institute's Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism," July 2024, posted by DHS January 27, 2025. https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2025-01/2025_0127_cp3-middlebury-institute-fy21-tvtpgrant-eval-report.pdf [^13]: NCITE, "Evaluating Terrorism and Targeted Violence Prevention Programs," project page, University of Nebraska Omaha. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/research/research-projects/allen-impact-tvtp-grant-programs.php [^14]: Stephen Diehl, "CTEC is Working on First-of-its-Kind Social Media Database on Far-Right Movements," Middlebury Institute, September 29, 2022. https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/news/ctec-working-first-its-kind-social-media-database-far-right [^15]: "AI fact-checker Logically sold off in administration deal," UKTN, July 7, 2025. https://www.uktech.news/ai/ai-fact-checker-logically-sold-off-in-administration-deal-20250707 [^16]: Sierra Abukins, "CTEC Partners with Meta to Support White House Initiative to Combat Violent Extremism," Middlebury Institute, October 19, 2022. https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/news/ctec-partners-meta-support-white-house-initiative-combat [^17]: "Fact Sheet: The United We Stand Summit: Taking Action to Prevent and Address Hate-Motivated Violence and Foster Unity," The White House, September 15, 2022, via the American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/fact-sheet-the-united-we-stand-summit-taking-action-prevent-and-address-hate-motivated [^18]: Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism and Tech Against Terrorism, "Militant Accelerationism Coalitions: A Case Study in Neo-Fascist Accelerationist Coalition Building Online," June 2022, executive summary; Middlebury Institute landing page of June 7, 2022. https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/militant-accelerationism-coalitions-case-study [^19]: Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism, "Dangerous Organizations and Bad Actors: The Base" (March 6, 2022), https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/dangerous-organizations-and-bad-actors-base ; "Dangerous Organizations and Bad Actors: The Active Club Network" (March 15, 2023), https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/dangerous-organizations-and-bad-actors-active ; "Dangerous Organizations and Bad Actors: Atomwaffen Division" (April 12, 2023), https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/dangerous-organizations-and-bad-actors-4 ; "Dangerous Organizations and Bad Actors: National Action" (August 23, 2023), https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/dangerous-organizations-and-bad-actors-5 [^20]: Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism, "Dangerous Organizations and Bad Actors: Nordic Resistance Movement" (November 18, 2022), stating that the Russian Imperial Movement "was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity by the U.S. State Department in April of 2020." https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/ctec-publications-0/dangerous-organizations-and-bad-actors-nordic-resistance-movement