DoD awards $3M to START to update terrorism-related datasets

The U.S. Department of Defense awarded $3 million to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) to update terrorism-related datasets that serve intelligence community modeling and simulation efforts.

With this new award — called Enhancing Datastreams to Inform Counter-Terrorism (EDICT) – START will update relevant datasets and enhance the speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness, and interoperability of the terrorism-related data. This project will inform the DoD’s counterterrorism decision-making.

“START datasets are among the most robust sources of terrorism-related data in the world. Through the partnership with CTTSO, START will be able to provide more timely data to decision makers and policy experts, while also facilitating the research of other scholars through increased collaboration,” Amy Pate, START research director and acting executive director, said.

The funding will support updates for four ongoing research efforts, including the Big Allied And Dangerous (BAAD), the Leadership of the Extreme and Dangerous for Innovative Results (LEADIR), the Transnational Illicit Trafficking (TransIT), and the Global Terrorism Database (GTD).

“Our goal is to enable more accurate and useful analysis, not just of the threat, but also of the counterterrorism effectiveness of the United States and allied nations,” START Director William Braniff said. “These projects will allow policymakers and practitioners to make more effective and cost-efficient counterterrorism decisions using multiple different types of datasets.”