# Terrorist Tradecraft
**Entity class:** Formal Counterterrorism Intelligence Architecture concept
**Terrorist Tradecraft** is a counterterrorism concept describing a possible social, cognitive, or behavioral process that must be distinguished from mere exposure or association. The operational value of Terrorist Tradecraft lies in preserving time, provenance, confidence, and alternative explanations.
## Counterterrorism predictive-graph role
A relationship or identity match is an evidence-bearing hypothesis with source, time, and confidence. It is not guilt by association. The analytic state should distinguish ground truth, observed evidence, inferred state, and predicted state.
## Relationships
- **domain router:** [[wiki/Counterterrorism Intelligence|Counterterrorism Intelligence]].
- **ontology neighbors:** [[wiki/Counterintelligence|Counterintelligence]] and [[wiki/Pattern of Life|Pattern of Life]].
- **synthesis:** [[wiki/Counterterrorism Predictive Graph|Counterterrorism Predictive Graph]] and [[wiki/Predictive Intelligence Loop|Predictive Intelligence Loop]].
## Sources
- [NCTC — Guidelines for Access, Retention, Use, and Dissemination of United States Person Information (accessed September 23, 2026)](https://www.odni.gov/files/NCTC/documents/RelatedContent_documents/NCTCGuidelines.pdf)
- [ODNI — Data Mining Report CY2021–2023](https://www.odni.gov/files/documents/CLPO/CY2021-2023_Data_Mining_Report_FINAL.pdf)
**As of:** 2026-09-23