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| Abbreviation | IPT |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1995 (Project) / 2006 (Foundation) |
| Type | think tank |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., United States |
| Executive Director | Steven Emerson |
| Website | www.investigativeproject.org |
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 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. 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." 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.
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.
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."
- 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." 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.
- 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. 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." 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.
- 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. 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, 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. 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."
According to a report issued in 2011 by the liberal think-tank 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. Emerson responded, "the SPLC has scurrilously jumped on the ‘Islamophobia industry’ like MPAC and CAP in promoting a totally fabricated conspiracy that alleges a group of ten individuals (yours truly included) colluded for a decade to hypnotize 300 million Americans to be suspicious of Muslims."
References
- ^ "About The Investigative Project on Terrorism". IPT. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
- ^ Ziegler, Andrew, International Jihadists Infiltrating America?, American Diplomacy, January 15, 2008. Accessed April 1, 2014.
- 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.
- "The Honorable Pete Hoekstra Joins The Investigative Project On Terrorism As The Shillman Senior Fellow". PRNewswire-USNewswire. 14 January 2014.
- ^ "Steven Emerson Combating Radical Islam". Middle East Quarterly. Winter 2010. Retrieved March 2014.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - "Target Terrorism".
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|transcript=ignored (help) - "In his plea deal, what did Sami Al-Arian admit to?". Tampa Bay Times. April 23, 2006. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
- Andrew Cochran (November 29, 2007). "Special Public Event: Panel on Holy Land Foundation & Muslim Brotherhood". Retrieved March 21, 2014.
- "Federal Judge Hands Downs Sentences in Holy Land Foundation Case". DOJ Office of Public Affairs. May 27, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
- 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) - "Judge Ends Imam's Lawsuit Triggered by IPT Report". Right Side News. June 25, 2013. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
- Nathan Guttman and Larry Cohler-Esses, The Forward, 17 November 2010, Terror Expert Emerson Feels His Own Heat Over Finances
- Bob Smietana, The Tennessean, 24 October 2010, Anti-Muslim crusaders make millions spreading fear
- Ray Locker, Managing director, IPT, Letter to The Forward, 24 November 2010, The Investigative Project on Terrorism Responds
- ^ John Sugg (Jan–Feb 2011). "What people in Nashville now know about Steven Emerson". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs: 25ff.(subscription required)
- "Note to Readers on Tennessean Story". IPT. October 25, 2010. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
- 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.
- "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) - "Southern Poverty Law Center Joining Pro-Hamas Hezbollah Groups". The Jewish Press. August 16, 2012. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
External links
- Website
- Terrorists Among Us: Jihad in America (video)
- Joint Subcommittee Hearings - Iran's Support for Terrorism Worldwide (video)
| Various IPT reports and transcripts of Congressional testimony |
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