Terrorism Knowledge Discovery Project: a Knowledge Discovery Approach to Addressing the Threats of Terrorism

Abstract. Ever since the 9-11 incident, the multidisciplinary field of terrorism has experienced tremendous growth. As the domain has benefited greatly from recent advances in information technologies, more complex and challenging new issues have emerged from numerous counter-terrorism-related research communities as well as governments of all levels. In this paper, we describe an advanced knowledge discovery approach to addressing terrorism threats. We experimented with our approach in a project called Terrorism Knowledge Discovery Project that consists of several custom-built knowledge portals. The main focus of this project is to provide advanced methodologies for analyzing terrorism research, terrorists, and the terrorized groups (victims). Once completed, the system can also become a major learning resource and tool that the general community can use to heighten their awareness and understanding of global terrorism phenomenon, to learn how best they can respond to terrorism and, eventually, to garner significant grass root support for the government’s efforts to keep America safe.