U.S. State Department Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations and State Sponsors of Terror

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.

Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations
Date Designated
10/8/1997 - Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG)
10/8/1997 - Aum Shinrikyo (AUM)
10/8/1997 - Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA)
10/8/1997 - Gama’a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group – IG)
10/8/1997 - HAMAS
10/8/1997 - Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM)
10/8/1997 - Hizballah
10/8/1997 - Kahane Chai (Kach)
10/8/1997 - Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK, aka Kongra-Gel)
10/8/1997 - Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
10/8/1997 - National Liberation Army (ELN)
10/8/1997 - Palestine Liberation Front (PLF)
10/8/1997 - Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
10/8/1997 - Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
10/8/1997 - PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC)
10/8/1997 - Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
10/8/1997 - Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C)
10/8/1997 - Shining Path (SL)
10/8/1999 - al-Qa’ida (AQ)
9/25/2000 - Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)
5/16/2001 - Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA)
12/26/2001 - Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM)
12/26/2001 - Lashkar-e Tayyiba (LeT)
3/27/2002 - Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (AAMB)
3/27/2002 - Asbat al-Ansar (AAA)
3/27/2002 - al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)
8/9/2002 - Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army (CPP/NPA)
10/23/2002 - Jemaah Islamiya (JI)
1/30/2003 - Lashkar i Jhangvi (LJ)
3/22/2004 - Ansar al-Islam (AAI)
7/13/2004 - Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA)
12/17/2004 - Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (formerly al-Qa’ida in Iraq)
6/17/2005 - Islamic Jihad Union (IJU)
3/5/2008 - Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami/Bangladesh (HUJI-B)
3/18/2008 - al-Shabaab
5/18/2009 - Revolutionary Struggle (RS)
7/2/2009 - Kata’ib Hizballah (KH)
1/19/2010 - al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
8/6/2010 - Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami (HUJI)
9/1/2010 - Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
11/4/2010 - Jaysh al-Adl (formerly Jundallah)
5/23/2011 - Army of Islam (AOI)
9/19/2011 - Indian Mujahedeen (IM)
3/13/2012 - Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT)
5/30/2012 - Abdallah Azzam Brigades (AAB)
9/19/2012 - Haqqani Network (HQN)
3/22/2013 - Ansar al-Dine (AAD)
11/14/2013 - Boko Haram
11/14/2013 - Ansaru
12/19/2013 - al-Mulathamun Battalion (AMB)
1/13/2014 - Ansar al-Shari’a in Benghazi
1/13/2014 - Ansar al-Shari’a in Darnah
1/13/2014 - Ansar al-Shari’a in Tunisia
4/10/2014 - ISIL Sinai Province (formerly Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis)
5/15/2014 - al-Nusrah Front
8/20/2014 - Mujahidin Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC)
9/30/2015 - Jaysh Rijal al-Tariq al Naqshabandi (JRTN)
1/14/2016 - ISIL-Khorasan (ISIL-K)
5/20/2016 - Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s Branch in Libya (ISIL-Libya)
7/1/2016 - Al-Qa’ida in the Indian Subcontinent
8/17/2017 - Hizbul Mujahideen (HM)
2/28/2018 - ISIS-Bangladesh
2/28/2018 - ISIS-Philippines
2/28/2018 - ISIS-West Africa
5/23/2018 - ISIS-Greater Sahara
7/11/2018 - al-Ashtar Brigades (AAB)
9/6/2018 - Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM)
4/15/2019 - Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
1/10/2020 - Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH)
1/14/2021 - Harakat Sawa’d Misr (HASM)
3/11/2021 - ISIS-DRC
3/11/2021 - ISIS-Mozambique


Date Removed - Name - Date Originally Designated
10/8/1999 - Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine -Hawatmeh Faction - 10/8/1997
10/8/1999 - Khmer Rouge - 10/8/1997
10/8/1999 - Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front Dissidents - 10/8/1997
10/8/2001 - Japanese Red Army - 10/8/1997
10/8/2001 - Tupac Amaru Revolution Movement - 10/8/1997
5/18/2009 - Revolutionary Nuclei - 10/8/1997
10/15/2010 - Armed Islamic Group (GIA) - 10/8/1997
9/28/2012 - Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK) - 10/8/1997
5/28/2013 - Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) - 10/11/2005
7/15/2014 - United Self Defense Forces of Colombia - 9/10/2001
9/3/2015 - Revolutionary Organization 17 November (17N) - 10/8/1997
12/9/2015 - Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) - 12/17/2004
6/1/2017 - Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) - 10/8/1997
2/16/2021 - Ansarallah - 1/19/2021

Identification

The Bureau of Counterterrorism in the State Department (CT) continually monitors the activities of terrorist groups active around the world to identify potential targets for designation. When reviewing potential targets, 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, 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 2 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 that an 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 5 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

It must be a foreign organization.
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.
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

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.’’
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)).
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

Supports our efforts to curb terrorism financing and to encourage other nations to do the same.
Stigmatizes and isolates designated terrorist organizations internationally.
Deters donations or contributions to and economic transactions with named organizations.
Heightens public awareness and knowledge of terrorist organizations.
Signals to other governments our concern about named organizations.
Revocations of Foreign Terrorist Organizations

The Immigration and Nationality Act sets out three possible basis for revoking a Foreign Terrorist Organization designation:

The Secretary of State must revoke a designation if the Secretary finds that the circumstances that were the basis of the designation have changed in such a manner as to warrant a revocation;
The Secretary of State must revoke a designation if the Secretary finds that the national security of the United States warrants a revocation;
The Secretary of State may revoke a designation at any time.
Any revocation shall take effect on the date specified in the revocation or upon publication in the Federal Register if no effective date is specified. The revocation of a designation shall not affect any action or proceeding based on conduct committed prior to the effective date of such revocation.