As the origins, scope and impact of terrorism and violent extremism extend beyond conventional security and military paradigms — covering religious, political, socio-economic, demographic and at times historical vectors— the onus for developing effective and comprehensive counter-terrorism and counter-radicalization campaigns falls within the purview of eminent research centers like the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).

It is for this reason that the IDSA is unveiling the Counter Radicalization Task Force (CRTF) a dedicated research module looking into various aspects of radicalization as well as for developing effective counter-radicalization strategies and campaigns. In addition to studying the complexities involved in the process of radicalization, the task force would seek to formulate counter-radicalization measures and strategies, development of counter-narratives and strategic communication programmes as well as conduct research on developing matrices for testing and refining ongoing counter-radicalization programmes.

To this end, the CRTF would be building an information database on counter-terrorism and counter-radicalization, publish newsletters, commentaries, monographs and research papers, conduct lectures, workshops, round table discussions and seminars/conferences as well as conduct field trips to prisons, seminaries (madrassas), civil society organizations periodic surveys, related research centers and academic institutions, in addition to conducting periodic surveys.