The CRRC researcher database currently consists of two distinct collections: 1) Saddam Hussein’s Iraq; and 2) al-Qaeda and Associated Movements (overwhelmingly from Afghanistan).
It contains over 1,300 records, constituting over 59,000 pages and 195 hours of audio, with new records added weekly. All records in the CRRC consist of a file information sheet containing basic background information, a digital copy or audio file of the original record in Arabic, and a full English translation. The CRRC researcher database includes software that can search the full breadth of the English-language information sheets and translations, though not the Arabic texts. Please note that the quality of the translations and Arabic transcriptions (in the case of the audio) varies, and that the Arabic audio files and digital documents are the official records, not the translations or transliterations.
The Conflict Records Research Center (CRRC) was established to fulfill the Secretary of Defense’s intent to enable research into captured records with “complete openness and rigid adherence to academic freedom and integrity.” The CRRC’s mission is to facilitate the use of captured records to support research, both within and outside the government.
Electronic copies reside in a restricted U.S. Government database. The CRRC’s primary purpose is to make copies of a significant portion of these records available to scholars in the CRRC’s researcher database. We seek to make these copies, along with full English translations, available as quickly and responsibly as possible, while taking into account legitimate national security concerns, the integrity of the academic process, and risks to innocent individuals. Established at the direction of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Policy) (OUSD(P)), the center operates under the National Defense University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS).