Projects

The Center for Terrorism Research (CTR) comprises the core of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ research and analysis on terrorist movements and ideologies. It is dedicated to identifying effective strategies and techniques to combat these threats. CTR uniquely combines academic and policy research, training programs, and investigative journalism to create cutting-edge analysis of what the U.S. military has dubbed the “long war.” Center director Daveed Gartenstein-Ross leads a group of experts with a range of knowledge and skills that afford CTR unparalleled insights.

CTR research is focused on understanding terrorist ideologies, the driving forces behind radicalization, the geopolitical circumstances in which the long war is fought, and terrorists’ evolving strategies.

The Radicalization Project

For the past several years, CTR has conducted groundbreaking research through the Radicalization Project on the phenomenon of "homegrown terrorism," Westerners who have chosen to take up arms against the society in which they were born or raised. This phenomenon is recognized by scholars and policymakers alike as a growing national security challenge.  CTR seeks to overcome the current intelligence and policing void in this area by developing a more sophisticated understanding of this threat. Among the steps we are taking:

• Building a database of all known homegrown Islamic terrorists in Western Countries.

• Producing a study on the radicalization process in the U.S. and the U.K. In order to facilitate a greater understanding of the process, the study identifies six specific stages that homegrown terrorists have undergone; this information helps policymakers determine key factors in terrorists' radicalization, and devise counter-radicalization strategies. The study, released in April 2009, can be viewed by clicking here.

• Law enforcement training seminars that provide effective intelligence-led policing techniques to efficiently combat the terrorist threat to America.

The Ideologues Project

One of the keys to combating the spread of Islamic extremism is solid knowledge of the messaging being used by jihadists, coupled with an understanding of why these communications resonate. CTR is producing a series of analytical studies that will examine current jihadist ideology, and its evolution under a new generation of influential thinkers. These studies will profile ideologues from across the globe, analyze their speeches and writings, and provide a thematic look at their ideas. We will also analyze how the ideologue transmits his message, his intended audience, and the jihadist community's reception of these messages.

To view the first study in this series, click here.

Training and Consulting

CTR puts its expertise to practical use by educating and training law enforcement officials on extremist ideology, anti-terror tactics, and special applied fields. CTR's work includes live hostage negotiations, work on border security issues, and story development for major media companies. CTR frequently leads training for the U.S. military and federal, state, and local law enforcement; in 2009 Daveed Gartenstein-Ross received a Leader Development and Education for Sustained Peace Support Excellence Award from U.S. Army Central Command for this work. For more information on CTR's consulting work, click here.

CTR Vantage provides law enforcement, members of the intelligence community, academics, researchers, and other counterterrorism practitioners with enhanced knowledge of the terrorist threat to the West through the publication of in-depth themed issues. Each issue will concentrate on a topic of particular relevance; al-Shabaab's recruiting efforts, the Luqman Abdullah shooting and the White Separatist movement in the United States.

To view the archives of CTR vantage, click here.

About CTR Director Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

Described as "a rising star in the counterterrorism community" by the International Herald Tribune, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross is the Director of the Center for Terrorism Research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. His research interests include homegrown terrorism, radicalization, jihadist ideology, al-Qaeda's safe havens, and energy security.

Gartenstein-Ross co-authored two major reports in 2009, Homegrown Terrorists in the U.S. and U.K. and Terrorism in the West 2008. The former is an empirical examination of the radicalization process in 117 homegrown jihadi terrorists that provides a new framework for understanding the impact of religious ideology. Renowned terrorism expert Brian Michael Jenkins, senior advisor to the president of the RAND Corporation, described the work as "an important study that adds to our knowledge of terrorist radicalization." Gartenstein-Ross has presented his research on radicalization at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Marine Corps University, National Defense University, and to international delegations from Denmark and Russia, among others.

His full biography is here.