Terror database open for public inspection

College Park (Map, News) - A database used to track and predict terrorist activity is now available online to researchers, authorities and the public, said Gary LaFree, director of the project at University of Maryland, College Park.

“There’s nothing in our database that you couldn’t go and figure out yourself,” said project’ research director Gary Ackerman, referring to the Global Terrorism Database, which was compiled from news stories, public records and, links to the original document.

The database, which contains 80,000 domestic and international terrorist incidents since the 1970s, had been available to researchers and government agencies upon request, said LaFree, director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terror.

About 50 University of Maryland graduate students have contributed to the database since it began in 2001. The project receives the majority of its funding from the Department of Homeland Security.

The database can track long-term terrorism trends and measure the success of counter-terrorism tactics, LaFree said.

Dealing with terrorism one case at a time, like manila files in a drawer, limits government officials at every level, he said.

“I don’t care whether you go to an individual police officer or you go to Interpol, they handle data exactly the same way,” LaFree said. “If you want Smith, you go to Smith in the file drawer, just like a detective would do.”

Local authorities could use the database to determine which groups are active, where they have struck before, the type of weapons they use and the number of fatalities they hope to inflict, LaFree said.

ON THE NET

Click here to view the Global Terrorism Database.

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