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The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) is a Washington, D.C.-based research organization founded in 1995 by counterterrorism expert, Steven Emerson. 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 after the release of his documentary film, Terrorists Among Us: Jihad in America. The organization collects archival material about Islamic extremists and terrorists from a variety of sources including "websites, list-serves, publications, informants, undercover recordings, government records, court documents, and so on."

In January 2014, Pete Hoekstra, former nine-term congressman representing Michigan's 2nd Congressional District (1993-2011), became the Shillman Senior Fellow for IPT specializing in national security, international relations, global terrorism and cyber security. Hoekstra also served as chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from 2008 until he retired from office in 2011. He managed congressional oversight on modernization to confront the threats of the 21st century global war on terror, including restructuring the intelligence community with landmark legislation following the 9-11 Commission report.

Boston Marathon Bombing

According to a Fox News report published 19 April 2013, IPT founder Steven Emerson spent a week investigating the online postings of bombing suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev. Fox News anchor, Megyn Kelley, spoke with Emerson about the possible motives of the alleged bombing suspects. Emerson had also reviewed videos that both brothers had uploaded to their YouTube channels in the United States and in Russia, but only watched about half of the 22 videos on the U.S. channel. According to Emerson, the content of the videos which feature Osama bin Laden "calls to kill Americans, Jews, Christians and exhortations to establish a world-wide caliphate." Emerson said the messages are not directed just at Chechens. "They are directed primarily against all non-Muslims and are very similar to the Al Qaeda videos we've seen in years past." The two brothers clearly wanted "to express a message that they totally sympathize with the jihadist cause. These were jihadists, they were not just Chechen separatists."

Joint Subcommittee Hearing on "Iran's Support for Terrorism Worldwide"

On 4 March 2014, Pete Hoekstra testified at the Joint Subcommittee hearing titled "Iran's Support for Terrorism Worldwide" which was sponsored by the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee. A portion of his testimony focused on the "increasing sophistication of Iran's cyber program, and capability to conduct cyber warfare." According to news columnist, Abha Shankar, the hearing "highlighted Iran's role as the world's foremost sponsor of terror and emphasized that negotiations to roll back the Islamic Republic's nuclear program should not ignore its support for global terror through its elite Quds Force and proxy Hezbollah."

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. 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."

The Nashville Tennessean has reported that Emerson transfers money from the non-profit IPT back to the for-profit SAE. 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." IPT subsequently published a detailed response to the article, stating that "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."

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

Criticism

According to a report issued in 2011 by the Center for American Progress (CAP), the IPT was one of ten foundations constituting what it called "the Islamophobia network in America." CAP's conclusions were based on an investigation into organizations funded by a number of umbrella foundations, which gave about $7 million per year to various anti-Islamic groups, including the IPT, between 2001 and 2009.

On 16 November 2011, a report was issued by M. Zuhdi Jasser discrediting the CAP report "as a fallacy and in many ways harmful to the communities it pretends to serve." According to Jasser, the CAP report, “Fear, Inc.”, is "clearly the latest volley in the ping pong games between virulently partisan organizations on the left and the right that exploit American Muslims as the ball." Jasser also stated that the term Islamophobia is "a mechanism that has been employed by a number of organizations, such as CAP, to shut down conversation, free speech, and introspection and to reinforce a concept of victimization of Muslims." His report further states that as a devout Muslim he was deeply offended that CAP would presume to instruct him on his allegiance to his faith, and summarized by stating the report was created "with a set of biases and conclusions that were predetermined." He further condemned their accusation that "a devout American Muslim can be Islamophobic" was arrogant and laughable. Mark Tapson, a columnist for FrontPage Magazine alleged that the report is packed with ugly terminology designed "to demonize these falsely labeled “Islamophobes”.According to Daniel Pipes who is the former director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and founder of the Middle East Forum, the CAP report not only got the larger picture wrong, but could not even get the details correct.

References

1. ^ "About The Investigative Project on Terrorism". IPT. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
2. ^ Andrew H. Ziegler (January 15, 2008). "International jihadists infiltrating America?". American Diplomacy.(subscription required)
3. 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.
4. "The Honorable Pete Hoekstra Joins The Investigative Project On Terrorism As The Shillman Senior Fellow". PRNewswire-USNewswire. 14 January 2014.
5. "Boston Marathon suspects Islamic terrorists, not Chechen separatists". Fox News. 19 April 2013.
6. Statement Of Pete Hoekstra (PDF) (Report). 4 March 2014.
7. "IPT Senior Fellow Testifies At Hearing On Iranian Terror". Breitbart News. 04 March 2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
8. Nathan Guttman and Larry Cohler-Esses, The Forward, 17 November 2010, Terror Expert Emerson Feels His Own Heat Over Finances
9. Bob Smietana, The Tennessean, 24 October 2010, Anti-Muslim crusaders make millions spreading fear
10. Ray Locker, Managing director, IPT, Letter to The Forward, 24 November 2010, The Investigative Project on Terrorism Responds
11. ^ John Sugg (Jan.-Feb. 2011). "What people in Nashville now know about Steven Emerson". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs: 25ff. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)(subscription required)
12. "Note to Readers on Tennessean Story". IPT. October 25, 2010. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
13. 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.
14. "Report details funding that fuels Islamophobia". The Christian Century. 128 (19): 18. September 20, 2011. A small number of conservative foundations are propelling a handful of anti-Islamic activists who are fueling rising levels of Islamophobia, according to a report issued by the left-leaning Center for American Progress. ... The 130-page report identifies seven conservative funding groups that between 2001 and 2009 gave $42.6 million to eight anti-Islamic causes, most of them headed by individuals who critics say form an organized network. Besides the Clarion Fund, other funding recipients include the website www.jihadwatch.com; the Middle East Forum, headed by academic Daniel Pipes; the Investigative Project on Terrorism, headed by former CNN reporter Steven Emerson; and the Center for Security Policy, headed by Frank Gaffney, a former defense official in the Reagan administration.(subscription required)
15. ^ M. Zuhdi Jasser (16 November 2011). Roadblock To American Progress (Report). Accuracy In Media.
16. Mark Tapson (14 September 2011). "Smear, Inc". Front Page Magazine.
17. Daniel Pipes (2 Sept 2011). "The Center for American Progress Gets the Financials Wrong". Lions Den. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• Website

Videos

• Terrorists Among Us: Jihad in America
• Joint Subcommittee Hearings - Iran's Support for Terrorism Worldwide

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