National Counter Terrorism Academy
# National Counter Terrorism Academy

The National Counter Terrorism Academy (NCTA) is a training center for U.S. state and local law enforcement officers. The academy operates at the LAPD's Ahmanson Training Center, near the Los Angeles International Airport.

## Creation

LAPD chief William Bratton founded the academy in 2008, in partnership with the Center for Policing Terrorism. The academy began operation with a bricks-and-mortar location; a virtual, or online, academy; a digital library; and mobile academic teams.

## Curriculum

The academy's five-month course aims to teach trainees how to recognize terrorist cells and build regional intelligence networks. Topics of instruction include homegrown radicalization; methods for interdicting terrorism finance; case studies of significant terrorism plots; the historical roots of terrorism; religious extremism, homegrown terror groups; the evolution of al-Qaida; and culturally sensitive interviewing techniques.

## Philosophy

The academy advances a theory of intelligence-led policing. The doctrine fuses Israeli counter-terrorist tactics with the Fixing Broken Windows theories advanced by criminologist George L. Kelling and social scientist James Q. Wilson.

