Hyping the Number of Deaths From Terrorism
Washington Post (11/06/13) Kessler, Glen
In a Nov. 3 interview on "Face the Nation," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said that there were "15,000 terrorist-related deaths" around the world in 2012. Rogers cited the figures in support of the National Security Agency's (NSA) surveillance programs. According to Kelsey Knight, a spokesperson for Rogers, that figure was based on the University of Maryland's Global Terrorism Database, which is operated by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). A leaked report based information included in that database noted that nearly 15,500 people were killed in over 8,500 terrorist attacks last year. However, START's 2012 report for the State Department indicated that terrorists killed 11,000 people in 6,800 attacks in 2012. The difference in figures is due to the fact that the leaked report counts attacks against both soldiers and civilians, while the State Department only counts noncombatants. Of those deaths, only a little over 1,000 could be attributed to al-Qaida and its affiliates. Rogers has been criticized by some for using the higher number of terrorism-related deaths to justify intelligence gathering efforts. Critics say that he should use the official number of deaths that was released by the State Department because that number is based on a definition of terrorism that has been codified by Congress.
