The MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base (TKB) was an online portal containing information on terrorist incidents, leaders, groups, and related court cases. It was active from September 2004 to March 2008 and is now defunct, but the group profiles that were included in the knowledge base are now hosted by the

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) is an emeritus Homeland Security Centers of Excellence at the University of Maryland, College Park that researches terrorism in the United States and around the ...

. The TKB was sponsored by the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), a non-profit organization funded by the United States

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

. A significant participant was Cyc, which encoded the knowledge base in mathematical logic, and allowed complex logical queries over the knowledge base. The TKB contained historical information on

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

dating back to 1968, with over 29,000 incident profiles, 900 group profiles, and 1,200 leader biographies. The TKB contained several features to analyze terrorism data, including graphing tools, interactive maps, and statistical summaries.

Incident databases

The TKB contains two separate terrorist incident databases, the RAND Terrorism Chronology 1968–1997 and the RAND Terrorism Incident database (1998–Present). While the former component tracked international incidents, the latter database includes both domestic and international attacks. The RAND Corporation is a global think tank founded in 1946 by the

United States armed forces The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

Group and leader profiles

In addition to incident databases, the TKB contains information on several hundred terrorist groups and leaders. DFI International, a consulting firm based in Washington DC, is responsible for these group and leader profiles. Group profiles include information about group ideology, founding philosophy, current goals, as well as basic "quick facts" such as member strength and funding sources. Leader profiles contain information about the membership and role of key terrorist leaders, as well as the individual's history and current whereabouts.

Legal database and documents

The TKB also contains several hundred case profiles from the American Terrorism Study. Directed by Dr. Brent Smith ( University of Arkansas) and Dr. Kelly Damphousse, the ATS is a database of individuals and groups indicted by the United States government as the result of an official

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

terrorism investigation. Case profiles contain a synopsis of the indictment as well as scanned copies of public record documents relating to the court proceedings.

Other tools

The TKB also includes an interactive map with satellite imagery and overlay capabilities, allowing users to plot terrorist incidents as well as key infrastructure such as roads, pipelines, and natural resources. Other features include a graphing program known as the incident analysis wizard, interactive tables, an advanced search tool, and terrorism related news items.

References

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External links