A consortium of researchers dedicated to improving the understanding of the human causes and consequences of terrorism

A closer look at the 2,600 terrorist attacks in US, 1970-2012

From 1970 through 2012, more than 2,600 terrorist attacks took place in the United States, resulting in more than 3,500 fatalities, according to recent analysis from START researchers. Eighty-six percent of those deaths occurred in the coordinated attacks on September 11, 2001.

The new START Research Highlight details information on attacks occurring in the United States from 1970 through 2012, including specific analysis of:

  • Overall attack trends
  • Attack targets
  • Perpetrators
  • Weapons Used
  • Locations
  • Unsuccessful Attacks

The report, “Terrorist Attacks in the U.S. Between 1970 and 2012: Data from the Global Terrorism Database,” authored by Erin Miller, Program Manager of START’s Global Terrorism Database (GTD), was supported by the Resilient Systems Division of the Science and Technology Directorate of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

This research is part of a larger effort to develop a comprehensive database on Terrorism and Extremist Violence in the U.S. (TEVUS) that integrates data from the Global Terrorism Database, the American Terrorism Study, Profiles of Perpetrators of Terrorism in the U.S., and the U.S. Extremist Crime Database. Led by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), the research team is creating a resource that will allow operational and academic end-users to conduct unprecedented analyses that incorporate incident, perpetrator, and geospatial information.