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. In July 2015, the United States, China, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, European Union, and Iran agreed to a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Under the agreement, Iran ensured that its nuclear program would be exclusively peaceful, and in return, the negotiating parties and the United Nations lifted economic sanctions related to Iran's nuclear pursuits. In May 2018, President Donald Trump ceased U.S. participation in the JCPOA and set a course for reestablishing restrictions on trade, transactions, and investment in most of Iran's economy. Throughout, however, U.S. sanctions have remained in place to address Iran's support for international terrorism, missile proliferation, human rights violations, and disrupting regional stability. Cuba. In December 2014, President Barack Obama announced he would proceed over the coming months to reestablish diplomatic relations with Cuba and ease those diplomatic and economic restrictions he could, while anticipating Congress could engage in a review of sanctions codified in permanent law. At the same time, the President announced that the State Department had begun a review of Cuba's designation on the state sponsors of terrorism list. On April 14, 2015, the President sent a message to Congress to certify that "the Government of Cuba has not provided any support for international terrorism during the preceding 6-month period; and ... has provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future." This met the requirements of the statutes that form the terrorist lists; Cuba's designation was removed on the 45 th calendar day following the announcement (May 29, 2015), as the laws provide. North Korea. In November 2017, President Trump designated the government of North Korea as a state sponsor of acts of international terrorism. Reportedly affecting the decision was the assassination of Kim Jung-un's half-brother by nerve agent at an international airport in Malaysia in February 2017, as well as North Korea's pursuit of attaining nuclear weapons capabilities. In late 2014, the possibility of redesignating North Korea had resurfaced when the Obama Administration attributed a cyberattack of Sony Pictures to North Korea. It was a debate that Congress had sustained since 2008, when President George W. Bush removed the terrorism designation as part of multinational negotiations to disable and dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Congress had gone so far as to require the Secretary of State to report to the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the House Committees on Foreign Affairs, Financial Services, and Ways and Means by October 31, 2017, on "whether North Korea meets the criteria for designation as a state sponsor of terrorism." The deadline was missed, but the November 21 designation answered the question. Sudan. Under President William Clinton, in 1993 the Secretary of State designated the government of Sudan as a state sponsor of acts of international terrorism. This was the first of several steps that escalated in 1997 when the President declared that Sudan's "continued support of international terrorism; ongoing efforts to destabilize neighboring governments; and the prevalence of human rights violations, including slavery and the denial of religious freedom" constituted a national emergency to the foreign policy, national security, and economy of the United States. For more than a decade, however, the State Department has described Sudan as generally cooperative on counterterrorism efforts. In January 2017, President Obama issued an order to signal a pending substantial outlook for U.S.-Sudan relations based on Sudan's "marked reduction in offensive military activity, culminating in a pledge to maintain a cessation of hostilities in conflict areas in Sudan, and steps toward the improvement of humanitarian access throughout Sudan, as well as cooperation with the United States on addressing regional conflicts and the threat of terrorism." This launched an extended forecast toward ending the national emergency and lifting most—if not all—of the economic sanctions. In November 2018, the State Department announced that the Administration would consider rescinding Sudan's designation if certain conditions, including with respect to respect for human rights and religious freedom, were met. 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. Three statutes authorize the Secretary of State to designate a foreign government for repeatedly providing support for acts of international terrorism, and to curtail aid or trade to that country as a result: Section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA'61; P.L. 87-195; 22 U.S.C. 2371), as amended, prohibits most aid under the act, the Food for Peace Act, Peace Corps Act, or the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945; Section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA; P.L. 90-629; 22 U.S.C. 2780), as amended, prohibits exports, credits, guarantees, other financial assistance, export licensing overseen by the State Department, and general eligibility related to providing munitions under the act, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, or any other related law; and Section 1754(c) of the Export Controls Act of 2018 (ECA'18; part I, subtitle B, title XVII, of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019; P.L. 115-232 ; 50 U.S.C. 4813). In addition, one recently repealed statute was key to the designations of the governments of Iran, Sudan, Syria, and North Korea as terrorist states, and those designations are continued as the authority transitions to the newly enacted ECA'18: Section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (EAA'79; P.L. 96-72 ; 50 U.S.C. 4605(j)), now repealed but determinations under this provision are continued by Section 1768, ECA'18, required validated export licenses (with an implied presumption of denial) for trade in goods or technology that were controlled by the Department of Commerce for national security or foreign policy reasons. Congress has substantively amended the older of these statutes over time, incrementally building the definitions, notifications, rescission processes, and explicit congressional role. None of the first iterations of these statutes had anything that would constitute a construction of a list. Though Section 40, AECA, as enacted in 1986, restricted U.S. munitions exports based on decisions of the Secretary of State pursuant to Section 6(j), EAA'79, to limit export licenses, today's four laws are linked more by the similarity in definitions and processes. Of the three statutes that authorize the listing of any foreign government designated as a state sponsor of acts of international terrorism, only the AECA identifies objectionable activities as part of the definition. While that act does not define the overarching term "international terrorism," it states that the term includes ... all activities that the Secretary determines willfully aid or abet the international proliferation of nuclear explosive devices to individuals or groups, willfully aid or abet an individual or groups in acquiring unsafeguarded special nuclear material, or willingly aid or abet the efforts of an individual or group to use, develop, produce, stockpile, or otherwise acquire chemical, biological, or radiological weapons. None of the three acts defines the core term "international terrorism." Section 140 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989 ( P.L. 100-204 ; 22 U.S.C. 2656f), as amended, however, provides the following in the context of requiring the Secretary of State to report annually to Congress on foreign countries supporting international terrorism: (d) Definitions.—As used in this section— (1) the term "international terrorism" means terrorism involving citizens or the territory of more than 1 country; (2) the term "terrorism" means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents; (3) the term "terrorist group" means any group practicing, or which has significant subgroups which practice, international terrorism; (4) the terms "territory" and "territory of the country" mean the land, waters, and airspace of the country; and (5) the terms "terrorist sanctuary" and "sanctuary" mean an area in the territory of the country— (A) that is used by a terrorist or terrorist organization— (i) to carry out terrorist activities, including training, fundraising, financing, and recruitment; or (ii) as a transit point; and (B) the government of which expressly consents to, or with knowledge, allows, tolerates, or disregards such use of its territory and is not subject to a determination under— (i) section 6(j)(1)(A) of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 2405(j)(1)(A)); (ii) section 620A(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371(a)); or (iii) section 40(d) of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2780(d)). Each of the three statutes has some unique aspects to its construction, but all three have in common two possible paths for removing a foreign government from designation.