Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT) Intel Assessment of ISIS

March 8, 2015

The website publicintelligence.net has placed online a 217-page assessment of ISIS, entitled Special Operations Command Central Multi-Method Assessment of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, dated December 2014.

This is an extremely interesting study, written by analysts outside the intelligence community, so it has an interesting take on the ISIS militant organization. According to publicintelligence.net,

"The following multi-method assessment of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was commissioned in the summer of 2014 by MG Michael Nagata, Commander, SOCCENT and written by “an unofficial brain trust outside the traditional realms of expertise within the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence agencies” in an effort to understand the psychology of ISIL and its supporters. The assessment was the subject of an article by the New York Times’ Eric Schmitt in late December 2014. A “Subject Matter Expert Elicitation Summary” of the assessment from January 2015 is also available.”

The full study can be accessed here.