Global Terrorism Database

Open GTD1 | Open GTD2
(best viewed using Internet Explorer)

See also the differences between GTD1 and GTD2

See also the Terms of Use

See also information regarding the Terrorism Knowledge Base (TKB)

Overview

The Global Terrorism Database (GTD) is an open-source database including information on terrorist events around the world since 1970 (currently updated through 2004). Unlike many other event databases, the GTD includes systematic data on international as well as domestic terrorist incidents that have occurred during this time period and now includes almost 80,000 cases. For each GTD incident, information is available on the date and location of the incident, the weapons used and nature of the target, the number of casualties, and -- when identifiable -- the identity of the perpetrator.

The START Center is making the GTD available to government policy makers and academics in an effort to increase understanding of terrorist violence so that it can be more readily defeated.

Characteristics of the GTD

• Contains information on over 80,000 terrorist attacks
• The main types of information found in the GTD are items that you would expect to find in a well written newspaper story about a terrorist attack: the type of attack, the number of persons killed, the group claiming responsibility, the date of the event and so on
• The GTD is currently the most comprehensive unclassified data base on terrorist events in the world
• It includes information on more than 27,000 bombings, 13,000 assassinations, and 2,800 kidnappings
• The original data include information on over 45 variables; the new data include over 120 variables
• More than 75 data collectors with expertise in six language groups are currently engaged in collecting GTD data
• Data collection is supervised by an advisory panel of 12 terrorism research experts
• Over 2,000,000 news articles and 25,000 new sources were reviewed to collect GTD from 1998 to 2004 alone
• The goal of START is to make all GTD data available to government employees immediately and to release all data to researchers approximately one year after the end of data collection
• The links below direct users to data files, codebooks, and supporting materials for:
• GTD1 (cases from 1970 to 1997) (TPDRC Study #22541)
• GTD2 (cases from 1998 to 2004) (TPDRC Study #22600)

The GTD Story

The Global Terrorism Database -- or GTD -- began in 2001 when researchers at the University of Maryland obtained a large database originally collected by the Pinkerton Global Intelligence Services, a relative of the famous Irish detective agency.

From 1970 to 1997, Pinkerton trained researchers -- mostly retired Air Force personnel -- to identify and record terrorism incidents from wire services, government reports, and major international newspapers. With funding from the National Institute of Justice, the Maryland team finished computerizing the original Pinkerton data in December 2005, making corrections and adding additional information wherever possible.

In April 2006, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), working with the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies (CETIS), received additional funding from the Human Factors Division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to extend the GTD beyond 1997. By June 2007 data collection was completed through 2004.

During the next year the new data will be systematically integrated with the original data to form a single source of information on terrorist attacks, covering the entire period 1970 to 2007.

See also the differences between GTD1 and GTD2

Open GTD1 | Open GTD2
(best viewed using Internet Explorer)

top