On 1 August 1961, the New York Times published the full text of Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev's 'third Soviet program' manifesto. The Times editor prefaced Khruschev's words with the following:

As the Soviet dictator is the most powerful adversary of the free world, and as the first maxim of survival must always be 'know thine enemy,' this document should be studied by all who value freedom. This is Premier Khruschev's counterpart to Hitler's 'Mein Kampf,' and the world can neglect it only at its peril.

Earlier that year, President Eisenhower, in his farewell radio and television address to the American people, expounded on the need to combat the "hostile ideology" being spread by the Soviet Union. He ruminated that those combating that hostile ideology--which he characterized as "global in scope, ruthless in purpose and insidious in method"--must be prepared to fight a prolonged and complex battle.

Heeding the advice of those who waged such ideological struggles before us, the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point has dedicated much of its resources this year to understanding the Jihadi ideology through the words of its adherents. In its Harmony and Disharmony report, the CTC exposed the organizational weaknesses of al-Qa`ida using its own internal documents. CTC's Jihadi Imagery Report catalogued frequently-used images in Jihadi propaganda. The translation of Abu Bakr Naji's Management of Savagery released by the CTC focused new attention on the Jihadi Movement's grand strategy in the Middle East. And Stealing al-Qa`ida's Playbook exposed the ideology's soft underbelly by using the writings of Jihadi scholars and ideologues.

The Militant Ideology Atlas is the CTC's most recent and comprehensive attempt to better understand the ideology driving the Jihadi Movement. The empirically supported findings from this effort are generated by a systematic research methodology and critical analyses of hundreds of al-Qa`ida's most widely-read and influential texts. The wealth of information contained in the Atlas' Research Compendium provides a new generation of scholars and analysts with the data and evidence they need to understand our adversaries and to devise strategies for combating them.

As President Bush stated in 2006, "we know what the terrorists intend to do because they've told us--and we need to take their words seriously." The Atlas is a major step toward that goal and empowers scholars with a critical resource needed to contribute to such efforts.

Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Felter, Ph.D. Jarret Brachman, Ph.D.
Director, CTC Research Director, CTC

Hat tip - InfoVlad