(as
of October 11, 2005)
Fact
Sheet
Office of Counterterrorism
Washington, DC
Foreign Terrorist Organizations
(FTOs)
Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs)
are foreign organizations that are designated by the Secretary of State
in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act
(INA), as amended. FTO designations play a critical role in our fight
against terrorism and are an effective means of curtailing support for
terrorist activities and pressuring groups to get out of the terrorism
business.
Identification
The Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism
in the State Department (S/CT) continually monitors the activities of
terrorist groups active around the world to identify potential targets
for designation. When reviewing potential targets, S/CT looks not only
at the actual terrorist attacks that a group has carried out, but also
at whether the group has engaged in planning and preparations for possible
future acts of terrorism or retains the capability and intent to carry
out such acts.
Designation
Once a target is identified, S/CT prepares
a detailed "administrative record," which is a compilation of
information, typically including both classified and open sources information,
demonstrating that the statutory criteria for designation have been satisfied.
If the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Attorney General and
the Secretary of the Treasury, decides to make the designation, Congress
is notified of the Secretary’s intent to designate the organization
and given seven days to review the designation, as the INA requires. Upon
the expiration of the seven-day waiting period and in the absence of Congressional
action to block the designation, notice of the designation is published
in the Federal Register, at which point the designation takes
effect. By law an organization designated as an FTO may seek judicial
review of the designation in the United States Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit not later than 30 days after the designation
is published in the Federal Register.
Until recently the INA provided that FTOs must be redesignated every two
years or the designation would lapse. Under the Intelligence Reform and
Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA), however, the redesignation requirement
was replaced by certain review and revocation procedures. IRTPA provides
thatan FTO may file a petition for revocation 2 years after its designation
date (or in the case of redesignated FTOs, its most recent redesignation
date) or 2 years after the determination date on its most recent petition
for revocation. In order to provide a basis for revocation, the petitioning
FTO must provide evidence that the circumstances forming the basis for
the designation are sufficiently different as to warrant revocation.If
no such review has been conducted during a five year period with respect
to a designation, then the Secretary of State is required to review the
designation to determine whether revocation would be appropriate. In addition,
the Secretary of State may at any time revoke a designation upon a finding
that the circumstances forming the basis for the designation have changed
in such a manner as to warrant revocation, or that the national security
of the United States warrants a revocation. The same procedural requirements
apply to revocations made by the Secretary of State as apply to designations.
A designation may be revoked by an Act of Congress, or set aside by a
Court order.
Legal Criteria for Designation
under Section 219 of the INA as amended
1.
It must be a foreign organization.
2. The organization must engage in terrorist activity, as defined
in section 212 (a)(3)(B) of the INA (8 U.S.C. §
1182(a)(3)(B)),* or terrorism,
as defined in section 140(d)(2) of the Foreign Relations Authorization
Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989 (22 U.S.C. §
2656f(d)(2)),** or retain the capability
and intent to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism.
3. The organization’s terrorist activity or terrorism must threaten
the security of U.S. nationals or the national security (national
defense, foreign relations, or the economic interests) of the
United States.
Legal Ramifications of Designation
1. It is unlawful for a person in the United States or subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide "material
support or resources" to a designated FTO. (The term "material
support or resources" is defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2339A(b)(1)
as "any property, tangible or intangible, or service, including
currency or monetary instruments or financial securities, financial
services, lodging, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses,
false documentation or identification, communications equipment, facilities,
weapons, lethal substances, explosives, personnel (1 or more individuals
who maybe or include oneself), and transportation, except medicine or
religious materials.” 18 U.S.C. §
2339A(b)(2) provides that for these purposes
“the term ‘training’ means instruction or teaching
designed to impart a specific skill, as opposed to general knowledge.”
18 U.S.C. §
2339A(b)(3) further provides that for
these purposes the term ‘expert advice or assistance’ means
advice or assistance derived from scientific, technical or other specialized
knowledge.’’
2. Representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens,
are inadmissible to and, in certain circumstances, removable from the
United States (see 8 U.S.C. §
1182 (a)(3)(B)(i)(IV)-(V), 1227 (a)(1)(A)).
3. Any U.S. financial institution that becomes aware that it has possession
of or control over funds in which a designated FTO or its agent has
an interest must retain possession of or control over the funds and
report the funds to the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S.
Department of the Treasury.
Other Effects of Designation
1. Supports our efforts to curb terrorism financing and to encourage
other nations to do the same.
2. Stigmatizes and isolates designated terrorist organizations internationally.
3. Deters donations or contributions to and economic transactions with
named organizations.
4. Heightens public awareness and knowledge of terrorist organizations.
5. Signals to other governments our concern about named organizations.
Current List of Designated Foreign
Terrorist Organizations
1. Abu Nidal Organization (ANO)
2. Abu Sayyaf Group
3. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade
4. Ansar al-Islam
5. Armed Islamic Group (GIA)
6. Asbat al-Ansar
7. Aum Shinrikyo
8. Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA)
9. Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army (CPP/NPA)
10. Continuity Irish Republican Army
11. Gama’a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group)
12. HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement)
13. Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM)
14. Hizballah (Party of God)
15. Islamic Jihad Group
16. Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)
17. Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) (Army of Mohammed)
18. Jemaah Islamiya organization (JI)
19. al-Jihad (Egyptian Islamic Jihad)
20. Kahane Chai (Kach)
21. Kongra-Gel (KGK, formerly Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, KADEK)
22. Lashkar-e Tayyiba (LT) (Army of the Righteous)
23. Lashkar i Jhangvi
24. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
25. Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)
26. Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM)
27. Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK)
28. National Liberation Army (ELN)
29. Palestine Liberation Front (PLF)
30. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
31. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLF)
32. PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC)
33. al-Qa’ida
34. Real IRA
35. Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
36. Revolutionary Nuclei (formerly ELA)
37. Revolutionary Organization 17 November
38. Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C)
39. Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC)
40. Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso, SL)
41. Tanzim Qa'idat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn (QJBR) (al-Qaida in
Iraq) (formerly Jama'at al-Tawhid wa'al-Jihad, JTJ, al-Zarqawi Network)
42. United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC)
* Section 212(a)(3)(B) of the INA 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, firearm, or other weapon or dangerous device (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."
Other pertinent portions of section 212(a)(3)(B)
are set forth below:
(iv)
Engage in Terrorist Activity Defined
As used in this chapter [chapter 8 of
the INA], the term ‘engage in terrorist activity’ means in
an individual capacity or as a member of an organization–
1. to commit or to incite to commit, under circumstances indicating
an intention to cause death or serious bodily injury, a terrorist activity;
2. to prepare or plan a terrorist activity;
3. to gather information on potential targets for terrorist activity;
4. to solicit funds or other things of value for–
(aa)
a terrorist activity;
(bb) a terrorist organization described in clause (vi)(I) or (vi)(II);
or
(cc) a terrorist organization described in clause (vi)(III), unless
the solicitor can demonstrate that he did not know, and should not reasonably
have known, that the solicitation would further the organization’s
terrorist activity;
II. to solicit any individual–
(aa)
to engage in conduce otherwise described in this clause;
(bb) for membership in terrorist organization described in clause (vi)(I)
or
(vi)(II); or
(cc) for membership in a terrorist organization described in clause
(vi)(III), unless the solicitor can demonstrate that he did not know,
and should not reasonably have known, that the solicitation would further
the organization’s terrorist activity; or
III. to commit an act that the actor knows,
or reasonably should know, affords material support, including a safe
house, transportation, communications, funds, transfer of funds or other
material financial benefit, false documentation or identification, weapons
(including chemical, biological, or radiological weapons), explosives,
or training–
(aa) for the commission of a terrorist activity;
(bb) to any individual who the actor knows, or reasonably should know,
has committed or plans to commit a terrorist activity;
(cc) to a terrorist organization described in clause (vi)(I) or (vi)(II);
or
(dd) to a terrorist organization described in clause (vi)(III), unless
the actor can demonstrate that he did not know, and should not reasonably
have known, that the act would further the organization’s terrorist
activity.
This clause shall not apply to any material
support the alien afforded to an organization or individual that has committed
terrorist activity, if the Secretary of State, after consultation with
the Attorney General, or the Attorney General, after consultation with
the Secretary of State, concludes in his sole unreviewable discretion,
that that this clause should not apply."
"(v) Representative Defined
As used in this paragraph, the term ‘representative’ includes
an officer, official, or spokesman of an organization, and any person
who directs, counsels, commands, or induces an organization or its members
to engage in terrorist activity.
i.
Terrorist Organization Defined
As used in clause (i)(VI) and clause (iv), the term ‘terrorist
organization’ means an organization--
I.
designated under section 219 [8 U.S.C. ' 1189];
II. otherwise designated, upon publication in the Federal Register,
by the Secretary of State in consultation with or upon the request
of the Attorney General, as a terrorist organization, after finding
that the organization engages in the activities described in subclause
(I), (II), or (III) of clause (iv), or that the organization provides
material support to further terrorist activity; or
III. that is a group of two or more individuals, whether organized
or not, which engages in the activities described in subclause (I),
(II), or (III) of clause (iv).
** Section 140(d)(2) of the Foreign Relations
Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989 defines "terrorism"
as "premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against
noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents."
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