Problems With 2003 Report
The 2003 report was released twice, in April and June 2004. The release of the April 29th version led Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to say
- Terrorism continues to destroy the lives of people all over the world; and this report we are releasing today, "Patterns of Global Terrorism: 2003," documents the sad toll that such attacks took last year. This report also details the steps the United States and some 92 other nations took in 19 — or 2003 to fight back and to protect our peoples. Indeed, you will find in these pages clear evidence that we are prevailing in the fight.
On June 10, 2004, a few weeks after challenges from two professors (Alan Krueger of Princeton University and David Laitin of Stanford University) and Congressman Henry Waxman, the State Department announced that the report previously issued for 2003 was incomplete and incorrect in part. The revisions issued twelve days later included significant changes, including a doubling of the number of killed and wounded mentioned in the April 2004 version. Here are examples from the section "The Year in Review":
| April 29 version | June 22 version |
|---|---|
| There were 190 acts of international terrorism in 2003, a slight decrease from the 198 attacks that occurred in 2002, and a drop of 45% from the level in 2001 of 346 attacks. The figure in 2003 represents the lowest annual total of international terrorist attacks since 1969. | There were 208 acts of international terrorism in 2003, a slight increase from the most recently published figure of 198* attacks in 2002, and a 42% drop from the level in 2001 of 355 attacks. |
| 307 persons were killed in the attacks of 2003, far fewer than the 725 killed during 2002. | 625 persons were killed in the attacks of 2003, fewer than the 725 killed during 2002. |
| 1,593 persons were wounded in the attacks that occurred in 2003, down from 2,013 persons wounded the year before. | 3646 persons were wounded in the attacks that occurred in 2003, a sharp increase from 2013 persons wounded the year before. This increase reflects the numerous indiscriminate attacks during 2003 on “soft targets,” such as places of worship, hotels, and commercial districts, intended to produce mass casualties. |
In November 2004, news leaked to the Los Angeles Times about an internal report from the State Department's Office of Inspector General. The report found more errors in the 2003 report, and concluded that even the June version "cannot be viewed as reliable" because of questionable statistics on terrorist attacks and casualties, as well as other issues. The inspectors cited some short-term problems from the transition to the government's new interagency Terrorist Threat Integration Center. These included gaps in data entry, inadequate oversight, and personnel issues. They also cited a long-standing failure by the State Department, CIA, and other agencies to use consistent standards for the identification and classification of terrorism-related events.
Read more about this topic: Patterns Of Global Terrorism
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