ABSTRACT
Counterterrorism laws have been an important tool in the U.S. government’s efforts to counter the many forms of terrorism long before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The wide ranging pre-9/11 U.S. legal measures against terrorists and their supporters have evolved considerably since the 1970s, falling into three broad categories. The initial focus was on state sponsors of international terrorism-using a variety of sanctions-and international counterterrorism treaties and their implementing legislation. Congress also enacted legislation that allows private U.S. citizens to le civil suits against foreign governments that support international terrorism and terrorist groups. Then in the 1990s, as terrorist groups began reducing their dependency on sympathetic governments, the executive branch and Congress began focusing on legislation aimed against non-state actors, especially at their funding. After 9/11, the focus shifted to making the U.S. government more effective in its organization and enforcement of laws, even creating a new agency, the Department of Homeland Security.
