The_Info_Web/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.md

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---
category: "Government Agency"
aliases:
- "CTC West Point"
- "Combating Terrorism Center"
- "CTC Sentinel"
tags:
- Organization
- WestPoint
- Counterterrorism
- ThinkTank
- Military
summary: "Privately funded counterterrorism research center at the U.S. Military Academy, founded in February 2003 with backing from Vincent Viola, which publishes the CTC Sentinel and releases captured al-Qaida documents."
start: 2003-02
location: "West Point, New York"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Vincent Viola]]"
reverse: true
start: 2003-02
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation]]"
reverse: true
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Morgan Stanley]]"
reverse: true
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-09-23
---
The Combating Terrorism Center was created at the [[West Point|United States Military Academy]] in February 2003 "thanks to the vision and generous support of Mr. [[Vincent Viola]], former Chairman of the [[New York Mercantile Exchange]] and a 1977 graduate of West Point," with General (ret.) [[Wayne Downing]] and Brigadier Generals [[Russ Howard]] and [[Cindy Jebb]]. It is housed in the academy's Department of Social Sciences and describes itself as "privately funded," supported by named endowments from [[George Gilmore]] and several graduating classes and by the [[Audia Group]], [[Morgan Stanley]] and the [[Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation]]. It has provided counterterrorism education to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], the [[Department of Homeland Security]], the [[New York City]] fire department, the [[Army War College]] and "specialized [[Department of Defense]] units."[^1]
### Harmony Program
The center launched the [[Harmony Program]] in 2005 to release and analyze documents from the Defense Department's Harmony database, captured "in the course of operations in Iraq, Afghanistan" and elsewhere, among them letters from [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]] and `Atiyah `Abd al-Rahman to [[Abu Musab al-Zarqawi]] and a letter by [[Osama bin Laden]]. The center cautions that the documents "were collected on the battlefield unscientifically."[^2]
### CTC Sentinel
The center's monthly *CTC Sentinel* published [[H.E. Upchurch]]'s "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the 'Skull Mask' Neo-Fascist Network" in December 2021, on the history of [[Iron March]] and the groups that formed around it, including [[National Action]] and [[Atomwaffen Division]].[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, "History." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/history/
[^2]: Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, "Harmony Program." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/harmony-program/
[^3]: Upchurch, H.E. "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the 'Skull Mask' Neo-Fascist Network." *CTC Sentinel* 14, no. 10, December 22, 2021. https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/