Long Countif statement Not to Count Blank Cells

try

=COUNTIFS(DATA!I:I,A4,DATA!G:G,"No",DATA!A:A,"*" & "2" & "*",DATA!C:C,"initial Review",DATA!L:L,"*")

hi Jiptastic. this is the equivalent of your formula. you can use 2 double quotes lesser:
=COUNTIFS(DATA!I:I,A4,DATA!G:G,"No",DATA!A:A,"*" & "2" & "*",DATA!C:C,"initial Review",DATA!L:L,"<>")

since it's the same, it should give you the same problem. and we don't know what that problem is until we see a sample file. my guess is that column L:L may contain blanks created by formula as such:
=""
this will also be counted as non-blank for COUNTIF. so you might need to use:
=COUNTIFS(DATA!I:I,A4,DATA!G:G,"No",DATA!A:A,"*" & "2" & "*",DATA!C:C,"initial Review",DATA!L:L,">""")

again, we need your sample file to verify if it's not what you need. you can highlight those rows it's supposed to take in

=COUNTIFS(DATA!I:I,A4,DATA!G:G,"No",DATA!A:A,"*" & "2" & "*",DATA!C:C,"initial Review",DATA!L:L,"<>")

You should also be able to get rid of the ampersands and quotes around the 2:

=COUNTIFS(DATA!I:I,A4,DATA!G:G,"No",DATA!A:A,"*2*",DATA!C:C,"initial Review",DATA!L:L,"<>")

Note however, that wildcards don't work on numbers. So, if you're intention is to test for conditions like:

121
222
321

Then the wildcard criteria will not work.

You're welcome. We appreciate the feedback!