The Significant Incidents Against Americans Abroad (SIAAA) Dataset is the first systematic data compilation capturing antagonistic actions directed toward American nationals, entities, and interests across the globe. It covers both violent and non-violent incidents across military, diplomatic, business, and civilian dimensions, drawn primarily from US Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security reports.
Dataset at a glance
Coverage and sources
Data were manually coded from the US Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security’s “Significant Incidents of Political Violence Against Americans” reports (1987–2002 and 2008–2015). For the gap years 2003–2007, the dataset draws on the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) and Lexis-Nexis. Each incident records the date, country, region, location, actor, type of attack, number of casualties, targeted institution or individual, and the ideological background of the perpetrator.
Incident types by target
Research applications
The SIAAA is designed for use across political economy, peace and conflict studies, and political behavior. It enables researchers to move beyond attitudinal measures of anti-Americanism to study actual behavioral outcomes — examining when and under what conditions negative sentiments toward the United States translate into hostile action. It is also useful for country risk analysis, foreign policy evaluation, and counter-terrorism research.
Access the data