National Counterterrorism Center
NCTC
Agency overview
Formed	2003
Preceding agency	Terrorist Threat Integration Center
Headquarters	McLean, Virginia
Agency executive	Matthew G. Olsen, Director
Parent agency	Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Website
nctc.gov

The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) is a United States government organization responsible for national and international counterterrorism efforts. It is based in a modern complex in McLean, Virginia called Liberty Crossing,^[1] near Tysons Corner. NCTC advises the United States on terrorism.

The center is part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and draws experts from the CIA, FBI, the Pentagon, and other agencies who try to ensure that clues about potential attacks are not missed.^[2]

History[link]

The precursor organization of NCTC, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), established on May 1, 2003, was created by President George W. Bush by Executive Order 13354. President Bush announced the creation of TTIC in his 2003 State of the Union Address. TTIC was established in response to recommendations by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission) that investigated the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Among other things, the 9/11 Commission concluded that "none of the measures adopted by the U.S. government before 9/11 disturbed or even delayed the progress of the al Qaeda plot."^[3]

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 renamed TTIC to NCTC and placed it under the United States Director of National Intelligence. It has access to various databases, including those from the NSA and the CIA, and is in charge of the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) database.^[4] It also operates the publicly-accessible Worldwide Incidents Tracking System database.

Activities[link]

The center analyzes terrorism intelligence (except purely domestic terrorism); stores terrorism information; supports U.S. counterterrorism activities using information technology (IT); and plans counter-terrorism activities as directed by the President of the United States, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council.

Goals[link]

Its goals include providing terrorism information to the intelligence community; provide detailed lists of terrorists, terrorist groups, and worldwide terrorist incidents; support the response to terrorist incidents in the U.S. and worldwide; write assessments and briefings for policymakers.

After the Christmas 2009 terrorist attempt on Northwest Airlines Flight 253, the NCTC was tasked with ^[5] creating a process to "thoroughly and exhaustively" prioritize terrorism threat threads; identify follow-up action by intelligence, law enforcement and homeland security; and enhance the "Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment" database, to add names to watchlists.

Leadership[link]

Directors

• John O. Brennan (Acting) (2004–05)
• Vice Admiral (Ret.) John Scott Redd (2005–07)
• Michael E. Leiter (Acting) (2007–08)
• Michael E. Leiter (2008–2011)
• Matthew G. Olsen (2011 - present)

Principal Deputy Directors

• Arthur M. Cummings (2004–05)
• Kevin R. Brock (2005–07)
• Michael E. Leiter (2007–08)
• Geoff O'Connell (2008–2011)
• Andrew Liepman (2011- present)

Coordinates: 38°55′59″N 77°12′18″W / 38.933°N 77.205°W / 38.933; -77.205

See also[link]

• Director of Central Intelligence Directive
• Counterterrorist Center
• Photos of the NCTC and TTIC
• Information Sharing Environment

References[link]

1. ^ "A hidden world, growing beyond control". The Washington Post. http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/a-hidden-world-growing-beyond-control/. 
2. ^ Elliot, Phillip, "Obama says al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen apparently responsible for airliner bombing plot," Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 2, 2010, accessed January 2, 1010
3. ^ "Public Statement Release of 9/11 Commission Report The Hon. Thomas H. Kean and the Hon. Lee H. Hamilton". July 22, 2004. http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Statement.pdf. Retrieved 22 Feb 2010. 
4. ^ Karen DeYoung, After attempted airline bombing, effectiveness of intelligence reforms questioned, Washington Post, January 7, 2010
5. ^ Pelofsky, Jeremy (January 7, 2010). "Factbox: Actions Obama ordered after December 25 bomb plot". Reuters.com. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6065ZB20100107. Retrieved 2010-02-22. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: National Counterterrorism Center

• NCTC Website
• Office of the Director of National Intelligence Website
• NCTC News Story on Appointment of Michael Leiter and retirement of Kevin Brock
• News about new NCTC on FBI website
• BBC News article with internal photograph

v t e Directors of the National Counterterrorism Center Brennan (acting) • Redd • Leiter • Olsen

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's Counterterrorism Center was established in 1986, and is a division of the CIA's National Clandestine Service. It is not to be confused with the National Counterterrorism Center, which is a separate entity.

Foundation and early years[link]

The Counterterrorist Center was established in February 1986, under the CIA's Directorate of Operations, with Duane Clarridge as its first director. It was an "interdisciplinary" body; many of its personnel, and most its chiefs, were drawn from the CIA's Directorate of Operations, but others came from the Directorates of Intelligence and Science and Technology. Observing that terrorism knew no geographical boundaries, the CTC was designed to cut across the traditional region-based bodies of the CIA.

Discredited by the Iran-Contra scandal of 1986, the original aims later gave way to a more analytical role. This did not prevent the Center contemplating an "Eagle" drone aircraft project in 1986-7, which could have been used to spy on hostage-takers in Lebanon^{[citation needed]}. The idea was unrealistic in terms of the technical abilities of the time, but can be compared to the Predator drone eventually inaugurated in 2000.^[1]

Early members of the CTC included Vincent Cannistraro, Chief of Operations and Analysis from 1988–91, Robert Baer, from the Directorate of Operations, and Stanley Bedlington, a "senior analyst".^[2]

The 1990s[link]

In the early 1990s, the CTC had no more than a hundred personnel, divided into about a dozen branches. Besides branches specializing in Lebanon's Hezbollah, and secular groups like the Japanese Red Army, another concentrated on Sunni Islamist radicalism, primarily in Algeria.^[3]

In January 1996, the CTC opened the Bin Laden Issue Station to track Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, with Michael Scheuer, formerly in charge of the CTC's Islamic Extremist Branch, as its first head. The reasons were similar to those for the establishment of the CTC itself. The new Station, unlike the traditional country-based ones, was not geographically limited, and drew its personnel from across the U.S. intelligence community.

Geoffrey O'Connell was Director of the CTC from 1997 until Cofer Black became Director in June 1999, as part of a reshuffle by CIA chief George Tenet, who was embarking on a plan to deal with al-Qaeda. At the same time Tenet made one of his executives head of the unnamed section in charge of the Bin Laden Station.

Paul Pillar became chief of analysis in 1993, and by 1997, he was the Center's deputy director. But in summer 1999 he suffered a clash of styles with Cofer Black. Soon after, Pillar left the CTC.^[4] He was replaced as deputy director by Ben Bonk. Henry Crumpton was head of operations in the late 1990s,^[5] and came back after 9/11 as chief of a new Special Operations section.

In the late 1990s, the CIA began to set up Counterterrorist Intelligence Centers, in collaboration with the intelligence services of individual countries to deal with Islamist militants. The CTICs spread widely after the September 11, 2001 attacks, existing in more than two dozen countries by 2005. Officers from the host nations serving in the CTICs were vetted by the CIA, and usually supervised by the local CIA chief of station.^{[citation needed]}

"The Plan", 1999–2001[link]

In December 1998 CIA chief George Tenet "declared war" on Osama bin Laden.^[6] Early in 1999 Tenet he ordered the CTC to conduct a review of the CIA's operational strategy, with the aim of creating 'a new, comprehensive plan of attack' against al-Qaeda.^{[citation needed]} By mid-September, the result of this review, known simply as "The Plan", had been briefed to CIA operational level personnel, and to the NSA, the FBI, and other partners.^{[citation needed]}

Once Cofer Black had finalized his operational plan, Charles Allen, associate deputy director of Central Intelligence for Collection, created a dedicated al-Qaeda cell with officers from across the intelligence community. This cell met daily, focusing on penetrating the Afghan sanctuary, and ensuring that collection initiatives were synchronized with operational plans. Allen met with Tenet on a weekly basis to review initiatives.^{[citation needed]}

The CIA increasingly concentrated its diminished resources on counterterrorism, so that resources for this activity increased sharply, in contrast to the general trend. At least some of the Plan's more modest aspirations were translated into action. Intelligence collection efforts on bin Laden and al-Qaeda increased significantly from 1999.^[7]

The core 9/11 hijackers emerge[link]

Beginning in September 1999, the CTC picked up multiple signs that bin Laden had set in motion major terrorist attacks for the turn of the year. The CIA set in motion what Black later described as the "largest collection and disruption activity in the history of mankind". They focused on known al-Qaeda terrorists, and on senior personnel both inside and outside Afghanistan.^[8]

Amid this activity, in November–December 1999 Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Ziad Jarrah, and Nawaf al-Hazmi visited Afghanistan, where they were selected by al-Qaeda for the 9/11 operation.^[9] In late 1999, the NSA picked up traces of an "operational cadre" consisting of al-Hazmi, his younger brother Salem, and Khalid al-Mihdhar, who were planning to go to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in January 2000. A CTC officer sought permission to conduct surveillance on the men.^[10] At about this time the SOCOM-DIA data mining operation "Able Danger" also identified a potential al-Qaeda unit, consisting of the future leading 9/11 hijackers, and termed them the "Brooklyn cell". Altogether, the operation found five cells, including two of the three cells involved in the 9/11 attack.^[11]

The CIA erratically tracked al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar as they traveled to and attended the al-Qaeda summit in Kuala Lumpur in early January 2000. ...^[12][13]

The Predator drone, 2000–2001[link]

In autumn 2000, a series of flights over Afghanistan by Predator drones, under the joint control of the USAF and the CTC, produced probable sightings of bin Laden. CTC Director Black advocated arming Predators with missiles to try to launch a targeted killing of bin Laden, but there were legal and technical issues: under the new Bush administration in 2001, Black continued to lobby for Predators armed with adapted Hellfire anti-tank missiles. On Black's advice, Tenet raised the matter at the long-awaited Cabinet-level Principals Committee meeting on terrorism of September 4, 2001, and received authorisation to deploy the system.^{[citation needed]}

9/11 and after[link]

After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, some CTC staff were exempted from an order to evacuate the CIA headquarters building at Langley. They included the shift of the Global Response Center on the exposed sixth floor, which Black argued had was essential to keep operating during the crisis. Tenet finally agreed with Black that their lives would have to be put at risk.^[14]

The CTC obtained passenger lists from the planes used in the attack, and identified Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi,^[15] whose names they had first linked with terrorism in the winter of 1999–2000. Tenet later proposed inserting CIA teams into Afghanistan to assist local warlords in the fight against al-Qaeda.

The CIA geared up to take the lead in the attack on al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The NALT team, led by Gary Schroen, entered the country once more on September 26. A new branch was added to the CTC, named CTC Special Operations, or CTC/SO, headed by Henry Crumpton, with the aim of locating and destroying al-Qaeda resources. Execution of this mission was nowhere more evident than at Qala-i-Jangi, a 19th-century fortress on the outskirts of the northern Afghan town of Mazar-i-Sharif, when it fell to American allies.^[16]

See also[link]

• Counterterrorist Intelligence Center
• Robert Grenier (CIA)

References[link]

v t e Osama bin Laden Background Childhood, education, and personal life Militant activity Beliefs and ideology Criticism Location Khartoum compound Abbottabad compound Death reactions code name controversy conspiracy theories Family Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (father) Hamida al-Attas (mother) Najwa Ghanem (first wife) Abdallah bin Laden (son) Hamza bin Laden (son) Saad bin Laden (son) Omar bin Laden (son) Work al-Qaeda Wadi al Aqiq Messages to the World Fatawā 2004 video 19 January 2006 tape 7 September 2007 video 11 September 2007 video 20 September 2007 tape (more) In media In popular culture Growing Up bin Laden Holy War, Inc. Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? Interviews Related Allegations of support system in Pakistan for Osama bin Laden Bodyguard Issue Station September 11 attacks CIA – Osama bin Laden controversy False sightings