US National Counterterrorism Center and Department of State publish terrorism updates

“Terrorism remains a global threat from which no nation is immune.” This is the basic and stark conclusion of two related reports published in the US yesterday. These were The State Department’s publication ‘Country Reports on Terrorism’, which replaced the previous year’s discredited ‘Patterns of Global Terrorism’ report, and the National Counterterrorism Center’s ‘A Chronology of Significant International Terrorism for 2004’.

New methodologies have been used to develop the reports which make comparisons with previous years statistics impractical.

At a joint news briefing Philip Zelikow, Counselor of the Department, State Department and John Brennan, National Counterterrorism Center Interim Director outlined the main findings of the reports.

Mr. Zelikow stated that: “Despite ongoing improvements in US homeland security, our campaigns against insurgents and terrorists, and the deepening counterterrorism cooperation among the nations of the world, international terrorism continued to pose a significant threat to the United States and its partners in 2004.

“Notably, 2004 was also marked by progress in decreasing the threat from states that sponsor terrorism – state-sponsored terrorism. Iraq's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism was formally rescinded in October 2004. Though they are still on the list, Libya and Sudan took significant steps to cooperate in the global war on terrorism. Unfortunately, Cuba, North Korea, Syria, and in particular, Iran continued to embrace terrorism as an instrument of national policy. Most worrisome is that these countries also have the capabilities to manufacture weapons of mass destruction and other destabilizing technologies that could fall into the hands of terrorists.”

John Brennan said: “We compiled data on 651 attacks that met the criteria for significant international terrorist incidents … There were over 9,000 victims of significant international terrorism last year, of which 1,907 were killed.

“64 attacks, approximately 10 percent of the total number of attacks worldwide, were conducted against US interests. The vast majority of these anti-US attacks took place in the Middle East, where 83 percent of those attacks occurred … Of the roughly 9,300 individuals wounded in significant international terrorist incidents, 103 were Americans. And of the more than 1,800 people killed last year in significant international terrorist incidents, 68 were Americans.”

More information:

Full text of press briefing: http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rm/45279.htm

A Chronology of Significant International Terrorism for 2004 (92 page PDF) http://www.tkb.org/documents/Downloads/NCTC_Report.pdf

•Date: 28th April 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism
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