Terrorism Update monitors international and domestic terrorist activity and counterterrorism initiatives. It is sent to the media, Members of Congress and the Administration, embassies, UN missions, think tank professionals, national Jewish agencies and the general public.

As the United States, Israel and the entire world have faced growing threats of terrorism, in 1998 the League continued its efforts to expose various terrorist groups and trends and to provide such information to policy makers, law enforcement officials and the public. Through both ADL's William and Naomi Gorowitz Institute on Terrorism and Extremism and the Leon and Marilyn Klinghoffer Memorial Foundation, the International Affairs Division prepared newsletters, such as Terrorism Update and other backgrounders on topics including Islamic extremism and terrorism in Egypt, the Iranian pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and the Russian connection, the threat of biological terrorism and the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. ADL continues to monitor Islamic extremists around the world, including Hamas and Hezbollah in the Middle East.