The ISIS Files Launch

Summary

In 2018, the Program on Extremism at The George Washington University and The New York Times announced an exclusive research partnership to create a virtual public repository for The ISIS Files, a collection of over 15,000 pages of internal ISIS files obtained by Times investigative journalist Rukmini Callimachi and her Iraqi colleagues during embeds with the Iraqi army. Since then, the Program on Extremism, in cooperation with the GW Libraries and Academic Innovation, has embarked on an effort to digitize, translate, analyze, and publish The ISIS Files.

On June 29, 2020, the website containing the first documents from The ISIS Files collection was officially launched, together with related analytical reports. To coincide with the launch of the website, the Program on Extremism organized a public event, moderated by Program on Extremism Director Lorenzo Vidino, on The ISIS Files project, which included:

• Rukmini Callimachi, New York Times investigative journalist and Program on Extremism fellow
• Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, Center for Global Policy Fellow and Program on Extremism Fellow
• Cole Bunzel, Hoover Institution Fellow and Program on Extremism Fellow
• Omar Mohammed, Founder of Mosul Eye and Program on Extremism Fellow
• Devorah Margolin, Program on Extremism Senior Research Fellow
• Haroro Ingram, Program on Extremism Senior Research Fellow
• Geneva Henry, Dean of GW Libraries and Academic Innovation
• Safaa Yaseen, Second Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in Washington, D.C.