Fighting Hate Through Advanced Technology

Since 1981, the Center's Intelligence Project has tracked and exposed the activities of hate groups and their followers.

The information its staff gathers has played a key role in the success of many landmark Center lawsuits against violent groups such as the Aryan Nations and the Ku Klux Klan. The Project also shares this valuable intelligence with more than 60,000 law enforcement agencies and officers to alert them to the schemes of these extremist groups.

Keeping track of the proliferation of hate messages — on the internet, radio, and in numerous publications — has required the Intelligence Project to remain at the cutting edge of technology.

With the help of Center supporters, the Intelligence Project has developed a state-of-the-art database to accomplish its mission. It allows staffers to instantly search, retrieve, and reproduce information about hundreds of violent hate groups and tens of thousands of their followers.

The database grows monthly with information from more than 100 hate movement publications, more than 1,000 newspaper clippings, and more than 500 hate websites.

"Over the years, the Intelligence Project has collected a mountain of information regarding domestic terrorism," said Intelligence Project Director Joe Roy. "With this new database, we are able to view, print, e-mail, and search these documents without ever leaving our computers."

Center donors have helped the Intelligence Project to gain national recognition through its powerful and innovative technology. Often, the Intelligence Project is the only source of accurate information about a particular hate group or individual, and is frequently contacted by the FBI and other government agencies.

As hundreds of extremist organizations continue to spread their messages of intolerance, the Intelligence Project will remain a vital tool in the struggle to curb hate violence in America.