	Introduction

Over the past several years, a number of developments occurred involving foreign governments that in recent years the United States had designated as state sponsors of acts of international terrorism. Current designees are the governments of Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. Iran. Cuba. In November 2017, President Trump designated the government of North Korea as a state sponsor of acts of international terrorism. This brief report provides information on legislation that authorizes the designation of any foreign government as a state sponsor of acts of international terrorism. It addresses the statutes and how they each define acts of international terrorism; establish a list to limit or prohibit aid or trade; provide for systematic removal of a foreign government from a list, including timeline and reporting requirements; authorize the President to waive restrictions on a listed foreign government; and provide (or do not provide) Congress with a means to block a delisting. It closes with a summary of delisting in the past.
Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria are identified by the U.S. government as countries with governments that support acts of international terrorism. While it is the President's authority to designate, and remove from designation, terrorist states, Congress has some legislative authority to weigh in as the reviews proceed. In recent years, other foreign policy and national security decisions have butted up against the designation: to delist Cuba in the course of normalizing other aspects of the bilateral relationship; to enter into a multilateral agreement involving Iran's nuclear weapons pursuits that required the United States to lift some sanctions; and to redesignate the government of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism in the midst, or as part, of seeking countermeasures to that state's nuclear and missile ambitions.
This brief report provides information on legislation that authorizes the designation of a foreign government as a state sponsor of acts of international terrorism. It addresses the statutes and how they each define acts of international terrorism; establish a list to limit or prohibit aid or trade; provide for systematic removal of a foreign government from a list, including timeline and reporting requirements; authorize the President to waive restrictions on a listed foreign government; and provide (or do not provide) Congress with a means to block a delisting. It closes with a summary of delisting in the past.