SITE Intelligence Group is an American for-profit consultancy group that tracks online activity of white supremacist and

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism for modern, armed militant Political aspects of Islam, Islamic movements that seek to Islamic state, establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation ...

organizations. It is led by the Israeli analyst Rita Katz and based in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

. From 2002 to 2008, Katz headed an organization called the SITE Institute. The bulk of the materials on the SITE website are available by paid subscription.

SITE Institute

The Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) Institute was an organization that tracked the online activity of terrorist organizations. The SITE Institute was founded in 2002 by Rita Katz and Josh Devon, who had left the Investigative Project, a private Islamist-terrorist tracking group. In early 2008, it ceased its operations, and some of its staff formed the ''SITE Intelligence Group'', a for-profit entity, to continue some of its activities.

al-Qaeda tapes

* July 4, 2007: A video by Ayman al-Zawahiri was obtained by SITE ahead of its release on the internet by militant web sites. The video had been provided by

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

's As-Sahab Media to IntelCenter. * Sept. 7, 2007: SITE obtained a 30-minute video of

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

and provided it to

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

. Bin Laden's image is "frozen" for all but 3½ minutes of the tape. SITE beat al-Qaeda by nearly a full day with the release of the video. The US government later pronounced the video authentic. * May 6, 2011: The organization translated a lengthy statement signed by al-Qaeda's General Command that confirmed the death of Osama bin Laden and promised retaliation.

Controversies

As the institute

*On September 23, 2004, the ''New York Times'' reported "Several Islamic groups and charities...sued for defamation after (Katz) claimed they were terrorist fronts, even though they were not charged with a crime." *On 30 May 2008, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' published an online article reporting that SITE had wrongly identified footage from the post-apocalyptic computer game '' Fallout 3'' as being created by terrorists considering a nuclear attack against the West. According to the article, SITE found the ''Fallout 3'' images in a video called ''Nuclear Jihad: The Ultimate Terror'', posted on two possibly al-Qaeda affiliated and password protected websites, where it also gleaned chat logs from users discussing nuclear attacks on the West. SITE released a statement to clarify its position, stating that it never claimed the images were produced by terrorists, although it didn't admit to knowing from the start that they were video game images. ''The Daily Telegraph'' subsequently removed the article from its website.

As the group

On September 2, 2014, SITE sent the video of Steven Sotloff's beheading to its subscribers before the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...

released the video.

References

External links

* - Not accessible by general public
''New Yorker'' profile
{{US-internet-company-stub Intelligence websites Companies based in Bethesda, Maryland Mass media companies established in 2008 American companies established in 2008 2008 establishments in Maryland