United States Anti-Terrorism Strategy

By Raphael Perl

International Affairs Specialist, U.S. Congressional Research Sendee

It is indeed a pleasure to address your distinguished group on the topic of United States counterterrorism strategy, an issue of growing concern to both our nations. In the United States and nations throughout the world, anti-terrorism policy is evolving and adapting to changes in the global environment and changes in the terrorist threat.

Today, I will frame my remarks by highlighting changes in the global environment that facilitate terrorism and alter the terrorist threat. I will then focus on key components and directions of U.S. anti-terrorism policy and the White House National Strategy for Combating Terrorism.

The Changing Global Security and Terrorist

Threat Environment

The end of the cold war has increasingly brought with it a realization that the security environment had shifted dramatically:

• Weapons and technology that have been traditionally available only to nation states appear to be devolving to individuals and to transnational, or subnational, groups and organizations;

• Individuals and disaffected groups are seeking, and might gain access to, weapons of mass destruction; and

• Globalization, free trade, and the expansion of democratic regimes provide opportunity for freer movement for terrorist and criminal groups worldwide.

Hand in hand with changes in the global security environment has come a recognition that terrorism is becoming more widespread, diffuse, and deadly.

It is widely recognized today that terrorism is becoming less territorially defined and more global in reach, and that it is becoming less overtly state-sponsored and more decentralized. Moreover, some suggest that terrorism is becoming more anonymous and that in the future it will be increasingly driven by global religious and ideological agendas.

How Is United States Policy Changing in Light of

The Changing Global Landscape and Changes

In the Terrorist Threat?

Let us examine some of the prominent characteristics of current U.S. anti-terrorism policy.

Current U.S. anti-terrorism policy is to a major degree preemptive, with top priority being given to threats from weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

President Bush made this clear in his May 21, 2003, remarks to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. "We will not permit terror networks or terror states to threaten or blackmail the world with WMD."

A similar viewpoint was echoed by Secretary of State Colin Powell in an address on June 14, 2003, to the annual convention of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) in Washington.

Powell promised that the war against terrorism would remain unremitting and ultimately successful. "We will continue to work with our coalition partners to search out terrorists, smash their weapons, smash their networks, and freeze their finances. There will be no respite, no rest until terrorists and terrorism are defeated. And they will be defeated."

U.S. Policy Centers Around the Strategic

Concept of Defense-in-depth

The new global counter-terrorism strategy, released by the White House February 14, 2003, focuses on identifying and defusing threats before they reach U.S. borders. The strategy stresses that all instruments of U.S. power -diplomatic, economic, law enforcement, financial, information dissemination, intelligence, and military - are to be called upon. The strategy fits into the wider strategic concept of "defense-in-depth," which projects four concentric rings of defense against terrorist attack against the United States:

· The outermost ring consists of diplomatic, military, and intelligence organizations, operating mostly overseas. One goal of these organizations is to help preempt attacks on the U.S. homeland.

· Organizations such as the Customs Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Coast Guard all of which were recently incorporated into the Department of Homeland Security constitute the next ring, which focuses on U.S. borders and the goods and people that cross them.

· The next ring includes federal, state, and local law enforcement "first responders" such as the fire service, and the National Guard. These operate for the most pan within U.S. borders and are responsible for protecting towns and cities. Private citizens, who are being asked to report suspicious activity and take preventive action to reduce vulnerability to perilous situations, are part of this ring also.

· The final ring includes the private sector and federal agencies that play a key role in safeguarding the facilities that comprise critical physical infrastructures (e.g. transportation, financial, telecommunications, and

· on WMD, with a defense-in-depth framework. The strategy also has a number of other central components.