Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

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Op-ed: Trump changed how the U.S. assigns the label ‘terrorist.’ Can the Biden administration change it back?

Research Analyst Samuel Hickey co-authored an op-ed in The Washington Post detailing the issues with designating countries or foreign entities as terrorists.

Last week, the State Department announced that it would revoke the designation of Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a terrorist organization. This would reverse one of the big decisions of the closing days of the Trump administration, which not only designated the Houthis a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) but also designated Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.

Presumably, the outgoing president was trying to tie the Biden administration’s hands in its future foreign policy. To understand how, and the consequences of last week’s decision, it is important to understand what “designation” is in the first place. Read more