US State Department releases delayed 2024 terrorism report without statistics

U.S. Congress: The U.S. Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government responsible for enacting laws and overseeing executive functions. It established the mandatory annual Country Reports on Terrorism through 22 U.S.C. § 2656f in 1987, requiring statistical details on global incidents. The current lapse in data collection stems from congressional inaction on continued funding for the underlying database. Adam Blackwell: Ambassador Adam Blackwell serves as a principal at the Global Terrorism Trends and Analysis Center. He led appeals to State Department, congressional, and White House officials regarding the GRID funding cutoff without success. Blackwell highlighted the mismatch between active U.S. counterterrorism operations and the decision to end data collection. U.S. State Department: The U.S. Department of State manages foreign policy and is statutorily tasked with producing the annual Country Reports on Terrorism. It released the delayed 2024 edition in May 2026 without the required statistical annex after allowing GTTAC funding to lapse. The department has not restored support for systematic terrorism incident tracking despite ongoing designations and campaigns against designated groups. Global Terrorism Database: The Global Terrorism Database at the University of Maryland supplied worldwide terrorism incident data for the reports from 2012 to 2017. Its methodology included source-validity rules that limited coverage in certain conflict zones according to its own assessments. National Counterterrorism Center: The National Counterterrorism Center compiled terrorism statistics for the annual reports from 2004 through 2011 as part of fulfilling the congressional mandate. It was one in a sequence of providers before the role shifted to academic and then dedicated programs. Global Terrorism Trends and Analysis Center: The Global Terrorism Trends and Analysis Center operated the Record of Incident Database, or GRID, purpose-built to meet statutory requirements for terrorism statistics using the government's definition. Its State Department funding ended in March, after which the public record stops in mid-May. The center's work underpinned the statistical annex in prior reports. Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project: The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project tracks political violence events globally and has been considered as an alternative data source. It was not designed specifically for statutory terrorism reporting and applies different coding rules that can undercount certain incident types compared to dedicated terrorism databases. Data Gap: The sole mechanism for producing the required statistical annex lost funding in March, leaving no systematic collection for 2025 incidents and no annex in the 2024 report. User Community: Terrorism incident data supports operational needs at combatant commands as well as risk pricing by insurers and academic training of future analysts. Statutory Requirement: Federal law since 1987 unconditionally mandates the State Department to deliver annual terrorism reports to Congress, including statistical information to the extent practicable.