The Terrorism Knowledge Base at www.tkb.org serves as a
comprehensive databank of global terrorist incidents and
organizations.
(Click photo for screen-resolution image); high-resolution image available.
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The National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, known as MIPT,
is funded by the Department of Homeland Security. The institute created the
Terrorism Knowledge Base over the past four years. It was made available to the
world in early September, said James Ellis III, MIPT research and program
coordinator.
"The goal of this site is to create a system that gives users a much more
comprehensive picture of terrorism than is available anywhere else," Ellis
said. "We've given people a much better window into where terrorism is
happening, how it is happening and who is carrying it out."
The Terrorism Knowledge Base provides a variety of terrorism-related resources,
including original data gathered over a 35-year period, encompassing
information on more than 18,000 separate terrorist incidents. In addition to
searchable data, such as fact sheets on terrorist organizations and court
records of terrorism trials, the site also offers interactive analytical tools
capable of developing individualized reports and analyses on various aspects of
terrorism.
"Part of our mandate is to act as a national point of contact in the search for
the social and political causes of terrorism," Ellis said. "We feel that this
project helps fulfill our mandate."
Because the site provides not only a very broad overview of terrorism but also
considerable depth on specific subjects, Ellis said that it is useful to a wide
variety of users. These may range from researchers and policymakers to
emergency responders or simply interested members of the general public.
Defense Department personnel are an important segment of the audience,
according to Ellis.
"This is a global system, capable of global reach, and for that reason it
should be useful to military people or defense officials," Ellis said. "The
defense community can certainly be considered a core audience."
Since information available on the site is not classified and freely available
to the public, Ellis said, it has been useful to some military and other
government personnel operating in overseas locations without access to secure
networks.
"We've received feedback from personnel who have been able to get information
they needed from the site while functioning in an operational capacity. Because
they didn't have access to secure connections at the time, they couldn't get
that information through the classified channels they would normally have
used," Ellis said. "We are not a real-time intelligence system, but we can
serve as a source of accurate and credible information."
Army Lt. Col. James Cassella, director of U.S. Army Public Web Communications
and the Army home page, said he feels the amount of information on the site
will be of great value to users.
"This site offers a tremendous amount of content, so much so that we're
considering adding a link to it from our own 'Timeline of Terrorism' Web
special on www.army.mil," Cassella said. "Terrorism continues to pose a grave
threat, and the more we know about it, the more effective we'll be in
countering it."
One of the most useful tools provided by the site is the ability to compare and
contrast groups of data, according to Ellis. For example, a visitor to the site
can view side-by-side terrorism-related statistics of two countries. Or they
might choose to compare two terrorist organizations. The system's tools can
also generate reports and graphic representations of the research queries.
"The site offers a deep system with lots of functionality. We don't expect to
be the last stop in terrorism research, but we could and should be the first
stop," Ellis said. "Our site should have wide appeal. It's not just for the
hard-core analysts. Whether it's someone looking up terrorism information for
the first time or a high-end user doing advanced research, they should find our
site useful."
Sgt. 1st Class Jacquelyn Jones, who serves as the senior intelligence analyst
with the U.S. Army Reserve's 9th Theater Support Command, based on Fort
Belvoir, Va., said she is impressed with the site and its ability to
efficiently deliver information.
"I think it's awesome. If my commander requires some quick background
information on a geographic location or some basic information on which
terrorist groups might be active in a potential area of operations, this site
would help me find that information quickly and easily," Jones said.
Though he said he believes the Terrorism Knowledge Base already offers the most
comprehensive information package on terrorism available to the public on the
Web, Ellis said the site will be continuously updated and improved.
"Our project is meant to be dynamic, user-friendly and interactive. It will
only get better as people use it and give us feedback," Ellis said. "I think
our site can revolutionize and raise the level of terrorism research.
Hopefully, it will also have a positive impact on policy making."
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