Cadets learn to 'know the enemy'

Military cadets and Pentagon policy makers alike are drawing on the experiences of a unique West Point academy research center to seek a better understanding of the enemy post-9/11.

The Combating Terrorism Center (CTC), set up in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, aims to prepare cadets at the nation's premier military academy to confront the shifting geo-political realities of the 21st century.

Inspired by the precept of the ancient Chinese warlord, Sun Tzu, "to know your enemy," the center has become a leading hub of research into the Al-Qaeda network and radical Islam in general. Its reports have been studied around the world by governments, policy-makers and senior diplomats as well as local and federal police forces.