The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) is a United States government organization founded in August 2004 which is responsible for national and international counterterrorism efforts. It is based in a modern complex in McLean, Virginia, called Liberty Crossing near Tysons Corner.
Novels[]
The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) appears in the novel written by Andrew Kaplan:
Summary[]
NCTC’s mission statement succinctly summarizes its key responsibilities and value-added contributions: “Lead our nation’s effort to combat terrorism at home and abroad by analyzing the threat, sharing that information with our partners, and integrating all instruments of national power to ensure unity of effort.”
By law, NCTC serves as the “primary organization in the United States Government” for analyzing and integrating information pertaining to international terrorism. NCTC’s legal authorities and mission are focused on the terrorism threat emanating from outside the United States.
Currently, these threats come from violent extremists inspired by the Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL) and al-Qa'ida, including its allies and affiliates. Committed to conducting attacks inside the United States and against United States interests abroad, these groups promote an ideology that presents a radical vision of Islam that is not followed or endorsed by most Muslims, including those within the United States. Muslims are an extremely diverse group geographically, ethnically, and religiously, and the vast majority reject violent extremist ideology. Indeed, Muslims around the world comprise the main victims of attacks by these groups.
There are other organized groups that engage in violent acts—some are criminal organizations with no political or social agenda, and some are domestic terrorist groups. These include other types of violent extremists—such as white supremacists and eco-terrorists—who commit violence in this country and present significant terrorist threats. Such domestic terrorist groups are of concern to law enforcement, but because they fall outside of NCTC’s international terrorism mission, they are not included in this guide.
NCTC is part of the Intelligence Community (IC). In the conduct of intelligence activities, the IC recognizes that it must protect fully the legal rights of all US persons, including freedoms, civil liberties, and privacy rights guaranteed by Federal law. The IC is not authorized to collect, retain, or disseminate information about US persons solely based on Constitutionally protected activities such as First Amendment speech, and may not do so based solely on race, religion, or other protected classification. All individuals in this calendar are included only because of information linking them to international terrorism. Individuals identified as charged or indicted with criminal wrongdoing are entitled to a presumption of innocence in the US court system, unless and until such time as they are deemed guilty through the judicial process.