Although the number of international terrorist incidents has dropped in recent years and more terrorists are being arrested and tried for their crimes, international terrorism remains a serious, ongoing threat around the world. Individual bombings and armed attacks, while fewer in number than last year, continue to cause horrendous casualties. Moreover, domestic--rather than international-- terrorism continues to beset countries such as Algeria, where numerous brutal massacres of ordinary citizens have been perpetrated by terrorists during the past five years. During 1997 there were 304-acts of international terrorism worldwide, an increase of eight from the previous year. This figure is one of the lowest annual totals recorded since 1971. More than one-third of the year's attacks occurred in Colombia, 90 of which were low-level bombings of oil pipelines that caused damage but no casualties. Countering the terrorist threat remains a high priority for the United States. We have developed a three-part counterterrorist policy that has served us well over the years.