Country Reports on Terrorism 2014 by United States Department of State. (June 2015)
The report runs some three hundred and eighty-eight (388) pages but I thought you would find the criteria for inclusion (starts on page 386) is rather amusing.
Note in particular that:
Section 2656f(d) of Title 22 of the United States Code defines certain key terms used in Section 2656f(a) as follows:
…
(2) the term “terrorism” means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents; and (emphasis added)
I am guessing that means that US drone pilots are not terrorists because they are not part of “subnational groups or clandestine agents.”
The rest of the report is fairly disheartening. If you have been following the attempts of the Obama Whitehouse to say nice things about the slavers operating out of Malaysia, you will find a number of laudatory comments about Malaysia in this report.
You will notice that the number of those “killed” by “terrorist” figure prominently in the report but no mention is made of civilian casualties inflicted by the United States for the same years.
As a political theater document you may find this useful for detecting shifts in who is a “favorite” of the State Department when this report is published every year.
The report originates under the following authority:
Section 2656f(a) of Title 22 of the United States Code states as follows:
(a) … The Secretary of State shall transmit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, by April 30 of each year, a full and complete report providing –
(1) (A) detailed assessments with respect to each foreign country –
(i) in which acts of international terrorism occurred which were, in the opinion of the Secretary, of major significance;
(ii) about which the Congress was notified during the preceding five years pursuant to Section 2405(j) of the Export Administration Act of 1979; and
(iii) which the Secretary determines should be the subject of such report; and
(B) detailed assessments with respect to each foreign country whose territory is being used as a sanctuary for terrorist organizations;
(2) all relevant information about the activities during the preceding year of any terrorist group, and any umbrella group under which such terrorist group falls, known to be responsible for the kidnapping or death of an American citizen during the preceding five years, any terrorist group known to have obtained or developed, or to have attempted to obtain or develop, weapons of mass destruction, any terrorist group known to be financed by countries about which Congress was notified during the preceding year pursuant to section 2405(j) of the Export Administration Act of 1979, any group designated by the Secretary as a foreign terrorist organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189), and any other known international terrorist group which the Secretary determines should be the subject of such report;
(3) with respect to each foreign country from which the United States Government has sought cooperation during the previous five years in the investigation or prosecution of an act of international terrorism against United States citizens or interests, information on –
(A) the extent to which the government of the foreign country is cooperating with the United States Government in apprehending, convicting, and punishing the individual or individuals responsible for the act; and
(B) the extent to which the government of the foreign country is cooperating in preventing further acts of terrorism against United States citizens in the foreign country; and
(4) with respect to each foreign country from which the United States Government has sought cooperation during the previous five years in the prevention of an act of international terrorism against such citizens or interests, the information described in paragraph (3)(B).
Section 2656f(d) of Title 22 of the United States Code defines certain key terms used in Section 2656f(a) as follows:
(1) the term “international terrorism” means terrorism involving citizens or the territory of more than one country;
(2) the term “terrorism” means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents; and
(3) the term “terrorist group” means any group practicing, or which has significant subgroups which practice, international terrorism.
I first saw this in a tweet by switched.