The Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) List

Congress has shown recurring interest in the administration of the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs)—one of several terrorism-related lists that the U.S. government maintains for the purpose of imposing financial sanctions, immigration restrictions, or other penalties in pursuit of law enforcement or national security goals. At various times, Members have sought to add suspected terrorist groups to the FTO list or weighed the potential political and economic costs of such additions. Recent Developments. Since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has identified 27 entities as FTOs. In 2025, more entities were added to the FTO list than in any previous year since its inception in 1997. (See Table 1 for a complete list.) All 27 entities are also designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended—a separate counterterrorism sanctions program. On July 8, 2025, Secretary Rubio revoked the designation of one entity, the Syria-based al-Nusrah Front (more recently known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS). Although no longer designated as an FTO, HTS nevertheless remains an SDGT. Legislative Origins Congress first established the statutory process for designating FTOs in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA; P.L. 104-132). The AEDPA added a new provision to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), Section 219 on the “Designation of Foreign Terrorist Organizations” (8 U.S.C. §1189). Since the law’s enactment in April 1996, Congress has amended Section 219 of the INA three times. The amendments modified the criteria for designation and judicial review of a designation, extended the duration of a designation, and established procedures to review an FTO’s designation and amend a designation. FTO Designation Criteria Pursuant to Section 219 of the INA, the Secretary of State is authorized to designate an organization as an FTO if such an entity meets three criteria: the suspected terrorist group must (1) be a foreign organization; (2) engage in “terrorist activity,” “terrorism,” or retain the “capability and intent to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism;” and (3) threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the “national defense, foreign relations, or economic interests of the United States.” Section 219 of the INA relies on the definition of “terrorist activity” in Section 212(a)(3)(B) of the INA (8 U.S.C. §1182(a)(3)(B)) and the definition of “terrorism” in Section 140(d)(2) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989 (FRAA, P.L. 100-204, as amended; 22 U.S.C. §2656f(d)(2)). The INA and FRAA definitions place differing emphasis on what might lead to an FTO designation. The INA defines “terrorist activity” to include specific types of violent actions (hijackings, assassinations, etc.). This definition deemphasizes the ideological motivations or goals of the perpetrators of such activities. However, the FRAA approaches the issue from the motivations of the aggressor and the targets of the violent activity. “Terrorism,” as defined in the FRAA, is “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.” Consequences of Designation By designating an entity as an FTO, the U.S. government seeks to limit the group’s financial, property, and travel interests. Among the consequences of an entity’s designation as an FTO, it is unlawful for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to a designated FTO, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §2339B; U.S. nationals injured by an act of international terrorism may sue for damages, and civil liability extends—when injury is caused by an act of international terrorism committed, planned, or authorized by an FTO—to those who aid and abet “by knowingly providing substantial assistance,” pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §2333; representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens (non-U.S. nationals) are inadmissible to, and in certain circumstances removable (deportable) from, the United States, pursuant to Section 212(a)(3)(B) of the INA (8 U.S.C. §1182(a)(3)(B)); and the Secretary of the Treasury may require U.S. financial institutions possessing or controlling any assets of a designated FTO to block all transactions involving those assets, pursuant to Section 219(a)(2)(C) of the INA (8 U.S.C. §1189(a)(2)(C); 31 C.F.R. Part 597). FTO Revocation Process According to statute, an organization’s status as an FTO may be revoked by an act of Congress or by the Secretary of State. Pursuant to Section 219 of the INA, the Secretary is required to revoke the designation if (1) “the circumstances that were the basis for the designation have changed in such a manner as to warrant a revocation” or (2) “the national security of the United States warrants a revocation.” An FTO may petition the Secretary to review its designation; the Secretary of State is required to review each FTO’s status at least every five years. An FTO may also seek judicial review regarding its designation. The FTO List To date, the Secretary of State has identified 94 entities as current FTOs (see Table 1). Since the FTO list’s inception, 21 entities have also been removed from the FTO list; this total includes the Yemen-based Ansar Allah/Houthi movement, which had been delisted under the Biden Administration in February 2021, but was returned to the FTO list in March 2025. Table 1. Entities Designated as FTOs Date Designated 10/8/97 Abu Sayyaf Group HAMAS Harakat ul-Mujahidin* Hizballah Kurdistan Workers Party Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam National Liberation Army (ELN) Palestinian Islamic Jihad Palestine Liberation Front Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine PFLP-General Command Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front Shining Path 10/8/99 al-Qa’ida 9/25/00 Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan 5/16/01 New Irish Republican Army* 12/26/01 Jaish-e-Mohammed Lashkar-e Tayyiba* 3/27/02 Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb* Asbat al-Ansar 8/9/02 Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army 10/23/02 Jemaah Islamiya 1/30/03 Lashkar i Jhangvi 3/22/04 Ansar al-Islam 7/13/04 Continuity Irish Republican Army 12/17/04 ISIS* (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) 6/17/05 Islamic Jihad Union 3/5/08 Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami/Bangladesh 3/18/08 Al Shabaab* 5/18/09 Revolutionary Struggle 7/2/09 Kata'ib Hizballah 1/19/10 al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula* 8/6/10 Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami 9/1/10 Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan 11/4/10 Jaysh al-Adl* 5/23/11 Army of Islam 9/19/11 Indian Mujahedeen 3/13/12 Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid 5/30/12 Abdallah Azzam Brigades* 9/19/12 Haqqani Network 3/22/13 Ansar al-Dine 11/14/13 Boko Haram Ansaru 12/19/13 Al Mulathamun Battalion 1/13/14 Ansar al-Shari'a in Benghazi Ansar al-Shari'a in Darnah Ansar al-Shari'a in Tunisia 4/10/14 ISIS-Sinai Province* 9/30/15 Jaysh Rijal al-Tariq al Naqshabandi 1/14/16 Islamic State’s Khorasan Province 5/20/16 ISIS-Libya 7/1/16 Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent 8/17/17 Hizbul Mujahideen 2/28/18 ISIS-Bangladesh ISIS-Philippines ISIS-West Africa 5/23/18 ISIS in the Greater Sahara 7/11/18 Al-Ashtar Brigades 9/6/18 Jama’at Nusrat Al-Islam wal-Muslimin 4/15/19 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps 1/10/20 Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq 1/14/21 Harakat Sawa’d Misr 3/11/21 ISIS-DRC ISIS-Mozambique 12/1/21 Segunda Marquetalia Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) 2/20/25 Cartel del Golfo Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion Cartel de Sinaloa Cartel del Noreste Carteles Unidos La Nueva Familia Michoacana Mara Salvatrucha Tren de Aragua 3/5/25 Ansar Allah (Houthis) 5/5/25 Viv Ansanm Gran Grif 8/12/25 Balochistan Liberation Army 9/5/25 Los Lobos Los Choneros 9/18/25 Harakat al-Nujaba Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya Kata’ib al-Imam Ali 9/24/25 Barrio 18 11/20/25 Antifa Ost (Hammerbande) Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front Armed Proletarian Justice Revolutionary Class Self-Defense 11/24/25 Cartel de los Soles 12/17/25 Clan del Golfo 1/14/26 Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood 3/16/26 Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood Note: Entity names as listed at https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/. For a full list of aliases, see Federal Register notices for each designation. Entries with an asterisk (*) denote FTOs whose aliases or primary names were subsequently amended.