A picture of the Boston Bombing adorns the front page of the 2014 calendar produced by the National Counterterrorism Center, signifying an act of terror that U.S. security agencies failed to prevent.
“Each year, NCTC chooses a new cover for the Counterterrorism Calendar,” said a senior intelligence official. “This year’s cover—the finish line of the Boston Marathon after the bombs went off—captures two messages. The photo is a sobering reminder of the enduring, evolving terrorist threat. The scene also reveals the importance of a coordinated response among first responders—key partners in the counterterrorism mission—whose effectiveness hinged on a decade’s worth of investment in training and coordination in the post-9/11 era.”
The calendar, published online in January, is more of a terrorism sourcebook for state, federal and local partners of the Center than a daily planner. The left side pages of the spiral-bound book includes information, data, maps and profiles of the “most wanted” terrorists starting with A for al-Qaida. The right side pages follow Islamic calendar, showing the overlap with the western calendar. Following the calendar is a few pages worth of lists of related information such as assassinations in the U.S., common explosives and biological and radiological threats.
A physical copy of the calendar can be obtained through the Government Printing Office via the U.S. Government Bookstore’s website. However, the calendar is currently on back order. An interactive version of the calendar is on the NCTC’s website.
According to a Washington Post article, a physical copy of the calendar is difficult to come by—unless you know someone involved with the Center. Due to budget cuts, fewer were printed.
Here are some facts from the calendar:
- There is “up to $25 million reward” for Ayman Al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida’s leader after Osama bin Laden.
- There is a $10 million bounty for Yasin Al-Suri, a key recruiter and fundraiser for al-Qaida.
- Boko Haram, a Nigerian-based terrorist organization seeking to overthrow the Nigerian government, means “western education is forbidden.”
- Al-Shabaab, the militant wing of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts, has revamped is violent insurgency in south Somalia despite its defeat by Somali forces in 2007.
- Since its formation in 1982, Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Shia terrorist group, has advocated for Palestinians and their conflict with Israel.
- There is a $5 million reward for Doku Umarov, the leader of the Caucasus Emirate group, a terrorist organization focused on instigating violence in the North Caucasus and southern Russia.
- There is a $10 million reward for information leading to the capture of Mullah Mohammad Omar, who was the president of Afghanistan during the Taliban’s rule. The Taliban is a Sunni Islamist nationalist movement that ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001.
- There is a $5 million reward for Abdul Rahman Yasin, a Bloomington, Ind.-born wanted terrorist involved in the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing.
