The starting point in the TOCSearch project was the data presented on the map Al-Qaeda Network: Principals, Supporters, Selected Cells and Significant Activities (1992–2004).
The map was prepared by J. L. Boesen, Raytheon Genesis Facility Institute Reston (2004), using data derived from open sources.
The data in the database are classified in seven entities: individuals, groups, organizations, supporters, actions, links and GMC reports.
An important feature of TOCSearch is the fact that links between the mentioned terrorist-related categories are stored and classified in the database.
By using option “Feedback” the user may send a message to an administrator on different topics (site bugs, erroneous data, comments, suggestions, etc.)
One of the key advantages of TOCSearch is the fact that its basic data source is verified information from the reports prepared and provided by George C Marshall European Center for Security Studies.
The reports are produced by a special newsletter service supporting the counter-terrorism course at The George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, and it is created for educational purposes only.
[1] The newsletter is produced from the open-source media reports by GMC postgraduate students and verified by senior experts and counter-terrorism officers.
These include electronic news archives, existing data sets, secondary source materials such as books and journals, and legal documents.
The results of statistical analysis will be presented graphically in various charts, showing the dependencies and / or the comparisons of the chosen aspects.
An analytically focused system will be used to understand the structure of different terrorist organizations with respect to particular attack types or regions of their activity.