Decoding the Language of Global Jihad

Following the in-person launch of the TITAN Project (Terrorism Insight Through the Analysis of Narratives), the Program on Extremism held the online webinar with Dr. Sergio Altuna, Senior Researcher at the Program on Extremism and Project Lead for TITAN, to present the project.

The TITAN Project is a new research initiative developed by the Program on Extremism to push the boundaries of how jihadist narratives are analyzed and understood. Designed as a cutting-edge analytical tool, TITAN aims to become a go-to reference for the systematic study of jihadist propaganda. During the event, the project was presented through a live overview of its functioning, core capabilities, analytical potential, and selected findings, highlighting how TITAN can support both research and policy-relevant analysis of extremist narratives.

You may consult the project’s website, which serves as a central reference point for TITAN’s analyses and outputs.

On February 26, 2026, the Program on Extremism (PoE) at The George Washington University hosted an online webinar by Senior Research Fellow Dr. Sergio Altuna to launch the TITAN Project. The presentation began with an overview of the TITAN project as a scientific, technology-enabled approach to analyzing the narratives of jihadist propaganda. Dr. Altuna emphasized that jihadist narratives reflect strategy and operations, which underpin TITAN’s primary focus of understanding how they evolve, adapt, and are temporally strategically deployed. Dr. Altuna detailed how TITAN’s comprehensive insights are derived from all official propaganda products published by jihadist organizations, enabling extensive analytical opportunities.

The focus then turned to TITAN’s impact on policy. Dr. Altuna explained how TITAN facilitates the transition from analytical research capabilities to policy impact, noting that using TITAN to identify emerging trends enables security practitioners to enhance their strategic warning capabilities. As narrative analysis often precedes shifts in jihadist operational behavior, he highlighted that systematic narrative analysis enabled by TITAN serves not only as a tool for interpretation but also as a means of anticipation. TITAN provides an analytical infrastructure that enables the structural mapping of jihadist discourse, the systematic comparison of jihadist organizations and their branches, and the tracking of evolution over time while maintaining interpretive depth.

Dr. Altuna then briefed the audience on his views regarding the future of the TITAN project. He emphasized that TITAN’s strength lies in its constant evolution, with the goal of making discourse analysis accessible at the pace and scale required by modern policy security environments. TITAN’s constant evolution centers on the platform’s collaborative nature, which grows in analytical capabilities as new questions are asked. The session concluded with audience Q&A.