National Counterterrorism Center

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National Counterterrorism Center seal. The NCTC is an organization within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) is a United States government organization whose mission is to inform, empower, and help shape that government's national and international counterterrorism efforts to diminish the ranks, capabilities, and activities of current and future terrorists. The NCTC serves as the principal advisor to the United States Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on intelligence operations and analysis relating to counterterrorism, advising the DNI on how well US intelligence activities, programs, and budget proposals for counterterrorism conform to priorities established by the President.

1 History
2 Activities
3 Leadership
4 External links

[edit] History

The precursor organization of the NCTC, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), established on May 1, 2003, was created by President George W. Bush by Executive Order 13354. The creation of the TTIC was announced by President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union Address. The 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." [1]

The TTIC became the NCTC under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 which placed it under the United States Director of National Intelligence who leads the United States Intelligence Community.

[edit] Activities

NCTC serves as the primary organization in the United States government for the following activities:

Integrating and analyzing all intelligence pertaining to terrorism possessed or acquired by the United States government (except purely domestic terrorism);

Serving as the central and shared knowledge bank on terrorism information;

Providing all-source intelligence support to government-wide counterterrorism activities; establishes the information technology (IT) systems and architectures within the NCTC and between the NCTC and other agencies that enable access to, as well as integration, dissemination, and use of, terrorism information; and

Serves as the primary US government organization for strategic operational planning for counterterrorism under the policy direction of the President of the United States, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council.

The NCTC claims to offer the following benefits:

New capabilities such as unprecedented access to terrorism information across the intelligence community.

New and better products, including a new knowledge bank on terrorists and terrorist groups, a comprehensive report on major terrorist incidents in 2004, and a searchable tracking system of worldwide terrorist incidents.