| |
|
 2001
Report on Foreign Terrorist Organizations
Released by the Office of the Coordinator
for Counterterrorism
October 5, 2001
Background
The Secretary of State designates Foreign Terrorist Organizations
(FTO’s), in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary
of the Treasury. These designations are undertaken pursuant to the
Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended by the Antiterrorism and
Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. FTO designations are valid for two
years, after which they must be redesignated or they automatically
expire. Redesignation after two years is a positive act and represents a
determination by the Secretary of State that the organization has
continued to engage in terrorist activity and still meets the criteria
specified in law.
- In October 1997, former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright
approved the designation of the first 30 groups as Foreign Terrorist
Organizations.
- In October 1999, Secretary Albright re-certified 27 of these
groups’ designations but allowed three organizations to drop from
the list because their involvement in terrorist activity had ended
and they no longer met the criteria for designation.
- Secretary Albright designated one new FTO in 1999 (al Qa’ida)
and another in 2000 (Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan).
- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell has designated two new FTO’s
(Real IRA and AUC) in 2001.
- In October 2001, Secretary Powell re-certified the designation of
26 of the 28 FTO’s whose designation was due to expire, and
combined two previously designated groups (Kahane Chai and Kach)
into one.
Current List of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations
(as of October 5, 2001)
1. Abu Nidal
Organization (ANO)
2. Abu Sayyaf Group
3. Armed Islamic Group (GIA)
4. Aum Shinrikyo
5. Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA)
6. Gama'a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group)
7. HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement)
8. Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM)
9. Hizballah (Party of God)
10. Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)
11. al-Jihad (Egyptian Islamic Jihad)
12. Kahane Chai (Kach)
13. Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
14. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
15. Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK)
16. National Liberation Army (ELN) |
|
17. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
18. Palestine Liberation Front (PLF)
19. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
20. PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC)
21. al-Qa'ida
22. Real IRA
23. Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
24. Revolutionary Nuclei (formerly ELA)
25. Revolutionary Organization 17 November
26. Revolutionary People's Liberation Army/Front (DHKP/C)
27. Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso, SL)
28. United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) |
NOTE: For descriptions of these foreign terrorist
organizations, please refer to "Patterns
of Global Terrorism: 2000."
Legal Criteria for Designation
- The organization must be foreign.
- The organization must engage in terrorist
activity as defined in Section 212 (a)(3)(B) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act. (** - see below)
- The organization’s activities must threaten the
security of U.S. nationals or the national security
(national defense, foreign relations, or the economic
interests) of the United States.
Effects of Designation
Legal
- It is unlawful for a person in the
United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States
to provide funds or other material support to a designated FTO.
- Representatives and certain
members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens, can be denied
visas or excluded from the United States.
- U.S. financial institutions must block funds of
designated FTO’s and their agents and report the blockage to
the Office of Foreign Assets Control, U.S. Department of the
Treasury.
Other Effects
- Deters donations or contributions to named
organizations
- Heightens public awareness and knowledge of
terrorist organizations
- Signals to other governments our concern about
named organizations
- Stigmatizes and isolates designated terrorist
organizations internationally
The Process
The Secretary of State makes decisions concerning the designation and
redesignation of FTO’s following an exhaustive interagency review
process in which all evidence of a group’s activity, from both
classified and open sources, is scrutinized. The State Department,
working closely with the Justice and Treasury Departments and the
intelligence community, prepares a detailed "administrative
record" which documents the terrorist activity of the designated
FTO. Seven days before publishing an FTO designation in the Federal
Register, the Department of State provides classified notification
to Congress.
Under the statute, designations are subject to judicial review. In the
event of a challenge to a group’s FTO designation in federal court,
the U.S. government relies upon the administrative record to defend
the Secretary’s decision. These administrative records contain
intelligence information and are therefore classified.
FTO designations expire in two years unless renewed. The law allows
groups to be added at any time following a decision by the Secretary,
in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the
Treasury. The Secretary may also revoke designations after determining
that there are grounds for doing so and notifying Congress.
** The Immigration and Nationality Act defines
terrorist activity to mean: any activity which is unlawful under the
laws of the place where it is committed (or which, if committed in the
United States, would be unlawful under the laws of the United States or
any State) and which involves any of the following:
(I) The highjacking or sabotage of any conveyance
(including an aircraft, vessel, or vehicle).
(II) The seizing or detaining, and threatening to
kill, injure, or continue to detain, another individual in order to
compel a third person (including a governmental organization) to do or
abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the
release of the individual seized or detained.
(III) A violent attack upon an internationally
protected person (as defined in section 1116(b)(4) of title 18, United
States Code) or upon the liberty of such a person.
(IV) An assassination.
(V) The use of any-
(a) biological agent, chemical agent, or nuclear
weapon or device, or
(b) explosive or firearm (other than for mere personal
monetary gain), with intent to endanger, directly or indirectly, the
safety of one or more individuals or to cause substantial damage to
property.
(VI) A threat, attempt, or conspiracy to do any of the
foregoing.
(iii) The term "engage in terrorist
activity" means to commit, in an individual capacity or as a member
of an organization, an act of terrorist activity or an act which the
actor knows, or reasonably should know, affords material support to any
individual, organization, or government in conducting a terrorist
activity at any time, including any of the following acts:
(I) The preparation or planning of a terrorist
activity.
(II) The gathering of information on potential targets
for terrorist activity.
(III) The providing of any type of material support,
including a safe house, transportation, communications, funds, false
documentation or identification, weapons, explosives, or training, to
any individual the actor knows or has reason to believe has committed or
plans to commit a terrorist activity.
(IV) The soliciting of funds or other things of value
for terrorist activity or for any terrorist organization.
(V) The solicitation of any individual for membership
in a terrorist organization, terrorist government, or to engage in a
terrorist activity.
[End] |
|
