Counter Extremism Project (CEP) Appoints Former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly As Advisory Board Member

(New York, NY) – The Counter Extremism Project (CEP), a not-for-profit, non-partisan, international policy organization formed to combat the growing threat from extremist ideology, today announced the addition of the former Commissioner of the New York City Police Department, Raymond W. Kelly, to its Advisory Board.

“The Counter Extremism Project is honored to have Commissioner Kelly join our advisory board,” said Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, CEO of the Counter Extremism Project. “He brings vast, unparalleled experience, knowledge and expertise to the issues central to our organization, and we look forward to benefitting from his insights to increase our effectiveness in countering extremist propaganda and denying extremists the material resources they depend upon to wage war and recruit followers.”

“Ray Kelly’s understanding of the complex and ever changing nature of the extremist threat to public safety is unparalleled,” said CEP Advisory Board Member and former U.S. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman. "It will be a great privilege to work with him to help make CEP’s programs and initiatives stronger and more effective.”
Commissioner Kelly spent nearly 50 years in public service, including 14 as the police commissioner for the City of New York. As the longest-serving police commissioner in the city’s history, Commissioner Kelly created the first counterterrorism bureau of any municipal police department in the country; established a new global intelligence program, stationing New York City detectives in 11 foreign cities; and established a Real Time Crime Center, a state-of-the-art facility that uses data mining to search through millions of computer records and put investigative leads into the hands of detectives in the field. He currently serves as Vice-Chairman at K2 Intelligence.

Commissioner Kelly added, “In order to stop extremism, all stakeholders, including law enforcement, elected leaders, the private sector and NGO’s must work together to develop effective solutions. The Counter Extremism Project has been at the forefront of this significant effort and I am proud to lend my support to the organization.”

Since launching in 2014, CEP has led a rigorous research and crowdsourcing online campaign, called #CEPDigitalDisruption, which identifies, exposes, and reports extremist content on social media platforms, specifically Twitter. The campaign examines accounts in English, French, German, Arabic, Italian, and Turkish.

In June, CEP announced the development of eGLYPH, an algorithm that can help Internet and social media companies remove prohibited extremist content quickly and efficiently. The technology is capable of locating extremist images, videos and audio clips that violate the terms of service of Internet and social media companies. When the algorithm determines that a photo, video, or audio file matches agreed upon extremist content in the database of CEP’s National Office for Reporting Extremism (NORex), it tags that content. Ultimately, the Internet or social media company will determine the most appropriate response to the discovery, consistent with its respective terms of service and U.S. law. The application of this new technology will greatly reduce the ability of extremists and terrorists to use online platforms to radicalize, recruit, and incite violence.