Database on Global Terrorism Now Open to Public

The University of Maryland recently opened its Global Terrorism Database to the public. Previously the database had been available only to researchers and government officials. This isn't some little database thrown together by a few researchers in a dusty computer lab, observes the BLT, the blog of ALM's Washington, DC newspaper, Legal Times. The database is huge and is billed as the "most comprehensive unclassified database on terrorist events in the world."  As mentioned on the home page of the database: Unlike many other event databases, the GTD includes systematic data on international as well as domestic terrorist incidents (since 1970) and now includes almost 80,000 cases. For each GTD incident, information is available on the date and location of the incident, the weapons used and nature of the target, the number of casualties, and -- when identifiable -- the identity of the perpetrator.