---
aliases:
- CTC West Point
- Combating Terrorism Center
- CTC Sentinel
category: Government Agency
created: 2026-09-22
location: West Point, New York
relations:
- fn: 1
  reverse: true
  start: 2003-02
  type: founded
  with: '[[Vincent Viola]]'
- fn: 1
  reverse: true
  type: funded
  with: '[[Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation]]'
- fn: 1
  reverse: true
  type: funded
  with: '[[Morgan Stanley]]'
start: 2003-02
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.
tags:
- Organization
- WestPoint
- Counterterrorism
- ThinkTank
- Military
updated: 2026-09-23
---

The Combating Terrorism Center was created at the 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](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/), the Department of Homeland Security, the [New York City](/places/new-york-city/) fire department, the Army War College and "specialized [Department of Defense](/organizations/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](/organizations/iron-march/) and the groups that formed around it, including [National Action](/organizations/national-action/) and [Atomwaffen Division](/organizations/atomwaffen-division/).[^3]

[^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/