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==History And Mission==
==History And Mission==


The Investigative Project on Terrorism was founded by [[Steven Emerson]] in 1995<ref name=about>{{cite web|publisher=IPT|url=http://www.investigativeproject.org/about.php |title=About The Investigative Project on Terrorism|accessdate=March 3, 2014}}</ref> shortly after the release of his documentary film, ''[[Terrorists Among Us: Jihad in America]]'', which first aired in the United States in 1994 on the PBS series Frontline.<ref name="international">Ziegler, Andrew, [http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/item/2008/0103/zieg/zeigler_seminar.html International Jihadists Infiltrating America?], ''[[American Diplomacy]]'', January 15, 2008. Accessed April 1, 2014.</ref> The organization collects archival material about Islamic extremists and terrorists<ref>{{cite book|author=Jeffrey H. Norwitz|title=Pirates, Terrorists, and Warlords: The History, Influence, and Future of Armed Groups Around the World|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=LZcp7qgzgzAC&pg=PA206|year=2009|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing Inc.|isbn=978-1-60239-708-8|page=206}}</ref> from a variety of sources including "websites, list-serves, publications, informants, undercover recordings, government records, court documents, and so on."<ref name=international/> Some of IPT's work has underlain articles, television specials about radical Islamic involvement in terrorism, and government action against Islamist organizations based in the United States.<ref name=about/>
The Investigative Project on Terrorism was founded by [[Steven Emerson]] in 1995<ref name=about>{{cite web|publisher=IPT|url=http://www.investigativeproject.org/about.php |title=About The Investigative Project on Terrorism|accessdate=March 3, 2014}}</ref> shortly after the release of his documentary film, ''[[Terrorists Among Us: Jihad in America]]'', which first aired in the United States in 1994 on the PBS series Frontline.<ref name="international">Ziegler, Andrew, [http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/item/2008/0103/zieg/zeigler_seminar.html International Jihadists Infiltrating America?], ''[[American Diplomacy]]'', January 15, 2008. Accessed April 1, 2014.</ref> As part of his work, he suggested the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was the work of Muslim Terrorists.<ref>http://www.cbsnews.com/news/i48-hours-i-tracking-terror/</ref> The organization collects archival material about Islamic extremists and terrorists<ref>{{cite book|author=Jeffrey H. Norwitz|title=Pirates, Terrorists, and Warlords: The History, Influence, and Future of Armed Groups Around the World|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=LZcp7qgzgzAC&pg=PA206|year=2009|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing Inc.|isbn=978-1-60239-708-8|page=206}}</ref> from a variety of sources including "websites, list-serves, publications, informants, undercover recordings, government records, court documents, and so on."<ref name=international/> Some of IPT's work has underlain articles, television specials about radical Islamic involvement in terrorism, and government action against Islamist organizations based in the United States.<ref name=about/>


In January 2014 former congressman and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, [[Pete Hoekstra]], was named the Shillman Senior Fellow for IPT specializing in national security, international relations, global terrorism and cyber security.<ref name=Newswire>{{cite news|publisher=PRNewswire-USNewswire|date=14 January 2014 | title=The Honorable Pete Hoekstra Joins The Investigative Project On Terrorism As The Shillman Senior Fellow | url=http://www.myfoxchattanooga.com/story/24448215/the-honorable-pete-hoekstra-joins-the-investigative-project-on-terrorism-as-the-shillman-senior-fellow |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311110317/http://www.myfoxchattanooga.com/story/24448215/the-honorable-pete-hoekstra-joins-the-investigative-project-on-terrorism-as-the-shillman-senior-fellow |archivedate=2014-03-11}}</ref>{{Unreliable source|date=July 2014}}
In January 2014 former congressman and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, [[Pete Hoekstra]], was named the Shillman Senior Fellow for IPT specializing in national security, international relations, global terrorism and cyber security.<ref name=Newswire>{{cite news|publisher=PRNewswire-USNewswire|date=14 January 2014 | title=The Honorable Pete Hoekstra Joins The Investigative Project On Terrorism As The Shillman Senior Fellow | url=http://www.myfoxchattanooga.com/story/24448215/the-honorable-pete-hoekstra-joins-the-investigative-project-on-terrorism-as-the-shillman-senior-fellow |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311110317/http://www.myfoxchattanooga.com/story/24448215/the-honorable-pete-hoekstra-joins-the-investigative-project-on-terrorism-as-the-shillman-senior-fellow |archivedate=2014-03-11}}</ref>{{Unreliable source|date=July 2014}}

Revision as of 20:05, 5 July 2014

Investigative Project on Terrorism
AbbreviationIPT
Formation1995 (Project) / 2006 (Foundation)
Typethink tank
HeadquartersWashington, D.C., United States
Executive Director
Steven Emerson
Websitewww.investigativeproject.org
Part of a series on
Islamophobia
No mosque
Issues
Status by country
Examples
Attacks on mosques:

Genocide:

Massacres, torture, expulsion:

Other incidents:

Media
Opposition

The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) is a Washington D.C.-based non-profit research group founded in 1995 by counterterrorism expert, Steven Emerson, who also serves as its executive director. According to its website, the IPT "is recognized as the world's most comprehensive data center on radical Islamic terrorist groups".

History And Mission

The Investigative Project on Terrorism was founded by Steven Emerson in 1995[1] shortly after the release of his documentary film, Terrorists Among Us: Jihad in America, which first aired in the United States in 1994 on the PBS series Frontline.[2] As part of his work, he suggested the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was the work of Muslim Terrorists.[3] The organization collects archival material about Islamic extremists and terrorists[4] from a variety of sources including "websites, list-serves, publications, informants, undercover recordings, government records, court documents, and so on."[2] Some of IPT's work has underlain articles, television specials about radical Islamic involvement in terrorism, and government action against Islamist organizations based in the United States.[1]

In January 2014 former congressman and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Pete Hoekstra, was named the Shillman Senior Fellow for IPT specializing in national security, international relations, global terrorism and cyber security.[5][unreliable source?]

Indictments and Trial Evidence

According to an article in the Middle East Quarterly "the IPT has access to information and intelligence to which the government is not privy, and has been instrumental in shutting down more than a dozen Islamic charitable terrorist and nonviolent front-groups since 2001."[6]

  • December 2001, CBS: 48 Hours - Erin Moriarity interviewed Steven Emerson, Executive Director of IPT, for the CBS television documentary series, 48 Hours. The episode, Target Terrorism, was broadcast on January 30, 2002. Emerson revealed that Sami al-Arian was running an organization in the United States that "was one and the same as the Islamic Jihad."[7] In February 2003, Arian was indicted for alleged fundraising and material support activities on behalf of terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). According to the Tampa Bay Times, Arian signed a plea agreement in which he admitted to "conspiring to help people associated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad" and covering up his knowledge of the PIJ associations by lying to Jim Harper, a St. Petersburg reporter covering Al-Arian in the mid 1990s, and others.[8]
  • 2007 and 2008 Holy Land Foundation Trials - prosecution relied on evidence produced by IPT, one of the three groups responsible for much of the analysis of exhibits and the links from Holy Land Foundation (HLF) to Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), and the extended MB network.[9] On May 27, 2009 in federal court in Dallas, "U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis sentenced the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) and five of its leaders following their convictions by a federal jury in November 2008 on charges of providing material support to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization."[10] As a result of IPT's vast archives on the activities of Hamas front groups in the United States Law enforcement officials commented that IPT had an instrumental role in prosecuting and convicting the Holy Land Foundation, a trial that resulted in sweeping convictions for all defendants in 2008.[6]
  • September 2010 ISP Appointment of Muslim Chaplain - On September 30, 2010, The Washington Times reported that Sheik Kifah Mustapha "was named a Muslim chaplain for the Illinois State Police (ISP) in December, but was dismissed in June after failing a background check that disclosed his past ties to the Holy Land Foundation." ISP spokesman Sgt. Isaiah D. Vega stated that “Due to information revealed during the background investigation, Sheik Kifah Mustapha’s appointment as a volunteer ISP chaplain was denied.” He declined to comment further because the matter was the subject of a lawsuit.[11] Mustapha sued the ISP claiming they discriminated against him because of his religion and ethnicity. He also attacked the IPT's credibility as part of his litigation. According to Right Side News,[12] Mustapha's appointment as the ISP's first Muslim chaplain was rescinded after ISP officials took a second look at the IPT report dated January 2010 which identified Mustapha as "a member of a Muslim Brotherhood-run Hamas support network in the United States, and was a paid employee of the network's official fundraising arm, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. Records show he spent five years as the charity's 'sole employee in its Illinois office.' The ISP verified the information about Mustapha's Holy Land Foundation work and saw a videotape entered into evidence which showed Mustapha singing a song praising Hamas and jihad." A federal judge in Chicago dismissed the imam's claim.

Funding

IPT is funded via the Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization established in 2006, and largely operated via SAE Productions, a Delaware-based company founded by Emerson in 1994.[1][13][14] The arrangement avoids the need for the kind of public disclosure associated with tax-exemption, which IPT has argued is necessary for security reasons: "The very nature of our work mandates that we protect the organization and its staff from threats posed by those that are the subject or our research by preserving the confidentiality of our methods."[15]

The Nashville Tennessean has claimed that money is transferred from the non-profit IPT back to the for-profit SAE.[16] The Tennessean quoted Charity Navigator president Ken Berger's comment on this fact: "Basically, you have a nonprofit acting as a front organization, and all that money going to a for-profit. It's wrong. This is off the charts."[16] IPT subsequently published a detailed response to the article, stating that "[a]t issue in the Tennessean story is the relationship between the IPT Foundation, a tax-exempt charity, and SAE Productions, a for-profit company run by IPT Executive Director Steven Emerson. The foundation accepts private donations and contracts with SAE to manage operations. The Tennessean article pays only lip service to the legitimate security issues that dictated this structure and that the IRS has reviewed and approved it."[17]

IPT says it "accepts no funding from outside the United States, or from any governmental agency or political or religious institutions."[1]

The liberal think-tank Center for American Progress (CAP) claimed that the IPT was one of ten foundations constituting what it called "the Islamophobia network in America."[18]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "About The Investigative Project on Terrorism". IPT. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
  2. ^ a b Ziegler, Andrew, International Jihadists Infiltrating America?, American Diplomacy, January 15, 2008. Accessed April 1, 2014.
  3. ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/i48-hours-i-tracking-terror/
  4. ^ Jeffrey H. Norwitz (2009). Pirates, Terrorists, and Warlords: The History, Influence, and Future of Armed Groups Around the World. Skyhorse Publishing Inc. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-60239-708-8.
  5. ^ "The Honorable Pete Hoekstra Joins The Investigative Project On Terrorism As The Shillman Senior Fellow". PRNewswire-USNewswire. 14 January 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-03-11.
  6. ^ a b "Steven Emerson Combating Radical Islam". Middle East Quarterly. Winter 2010. Retrieved March 2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  7. ^ "Target Terrorism". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |transcript= ignored (help)
  8. ^ "In his plea deal, what did Sami Al-Arian admit to?". Tampa Bay Times. April 23, 2006. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  9. ^ Andrew Cochran (November 29, 2007). "Special Public Event: Panel on Holy Land Foundation & Muslim Brotherhood". Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  10. ^ "Federal Judge Hands Downs Sentences in Holy Land Foundation Case". DOJ Office of Public Affairs. May 27, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  11. ^ Bill Gertz (September 30, 2010). "Hamas Linked Clerk Took Part FBI Outreach Effort". The Washington Times. Retrieved March 2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  12. ^ "Judge Ends Imam's Lawsuit Triggered by IPT Report". Right Side News. June 25, 2013. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  13. ^ Nathan Guttman and Larry Cohler-Esses, The Forward, 17 November 2010, Terror Expert Emerson Feels His Own Heat Over Finances
  14. ^ Bob Smietana, The Tennessean, 24 October 2010, Anti-Muslim crusaders make millions spreading fear
  15. ^ Ray Locker, Managing director, IPT, Letter to The Forward, 24 November 2010, The Investigative Project on Terrorism Responds
  16. ^ a b John Sugg (Jan–Feb 2011). "What people in Nashville now know about Steven Emerson". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs: 25ff.(subscription required)
  17. ^ "Note to Readers on Tennessean Story". IPT. October 25, 2010. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  18. ^ Greg Barrett (2012). The Gospel of Rutba: War, Peace, and the Good Samaritan Story in Iraq. Orbis Books. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-60833-113-0.
Various IPT reports and transcripts of Congressional testimony
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