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Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. I am pleased to be here today to brief you on our efforts to combat terrorism.

As the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, I serve as the Principal Staff Assistant and civilian advisor to the Secretary of Defense for combating terrorism activities. I will update you on the Department's progress in combating terrorism on three fronts--force protection, domestic preparedness in responding to weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, and research and development to combat terrorism. Following the testimony, we will provide a briefing along with examples of counterterrorism and antiterrorism equipment developed under the Counterterror Technical Support Program.

In the past year there has been a significant increase in Government-wide activity to respond to terrorism--expanding interagency coordination and cooperation, preparing for major national events, and improving protection for our forward-deployed forces. Although there is still much work to do, the Department has made significant progress in addressing the problem of terrorism--marshaling key DoD organizations to focus their experience and efforts on protecting our forces, promulgating a new directive on combating terrorism, developing a coordinated and effective domestic preparedness program, and enhancing research and development to combat terrorism. I will begin by reviewing the initiatives that the DoD has taken since Khobar Towers to deal with the problem of force protection and WMD.

Several months ago, the DoD established a senior steering group to develop and oversee initiatives on protecting our forces. In addition, we refocused the Anti-Terrorism Coordinating Committee, or ATCC, to address the recommendations made in the Downing Report on Khobar Towers and to oversee new efforts--some that will address the WMD threat--to protect our troops. To date, all 100 tasks derived from the recommendations in the Downing Report have been addressed. A few tasks remain to be completed, and we expect to resolve these in the next three months.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has undertaken several initiatives that demonstrate the Department's commitment to protect our forces. He has established a new organization in the Joint Staff specifically dedicated to force protection. Initially, this organization will focus on vulnerability assessments, training, and equipment requirements.

To ensure maximum effectiveness in identifying materiel solutions, DoD has used existing mechanisms with proven track records--the Technical Support Working Group, or TSWG, and the Physical Security Equipment Action Group, or PSEAG--to conduct rapid prototyping and commercial off-the-shelf testing of equipment and systems. The TSWG has been effective in providing prototype equipment to the interagency community to combat terrorism for the past 10 years. The PSEAG has long been effective in making the latest technologies on physical security available to all of DoD. As part of the overall effort to combat terrorism and protect our forces, the Department significantly increased the funding for TSWG and PSEAG projects for the FY 1998-2003 period. These programs will be an integral part of any technology initiatives that may result from the vulnerability assessments conducted for DoD forces and facilities.

Also, the Department is planning an Advanced Concepts Technology Demonstration, or ACTD, that will provide CINCCENT a biological agent detection capability at four high-threat sites. The ACTD will also provide CINCPAC the same capability at three high-threat sites.

Subtitle A, "Domestic Preparedness," of the "Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act of 1996" (Nunn-Lugar-Domenici) directs the President to (1) enhance the capability of the Federal government to prevent and respond to terrorist incidents involving chemical, biological, or radiological weapons, and (2) provide enhanced support to improve the capabilities of State and local emergency response agencies to respond to such incidents at both the national and local level.

Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, chairs the Senior Interagency Coordination Group to facilitate the interagency coordination of policy issues and program activities for consequence management initiatives. This group also includes representatives from the Departments of Defense, Justice, Energy, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and General Services Administration.

In response to the congressional legislation, the Department has allocated funds and begun implementing its FY 1997 program as follows:

- $10 million for equipment for the Marine Corps' Chemical and Biological Incident Response Force, or CBIRF, to respond to the consequences of a release of chemical and biological agents. The CBIRF is building the capability to identify the specific chemical or biological agent, assess downwind hazards, conduct advanced lifesaving support, and decontaminate patients. The CBIRF will employ state-of-the-art equipment to detect chemical/biological agents, treat casualties, and provide communications and an enhanced transportation capability.
- $6.6 million to assist the Secretary of Health and Human Services establish Metropolitan Medical Strike Teams for medical services resulting from the use of weapons of mass destruction.
- $6.2 million for research and development to counter weapons of mass destruction. Of the $6.2 million, $3.2 million is for an ACTD, called 911-BIO. This ACTD will evaluate new technologies proposed for use by the Army's Technical Escort Unit and the CBIRF to respond effectively to terrorist use of biological weapons.
- $36 million to support domestic emergency response preparedness initiatives that include: developing first-responder training programs; providing training to 26 metropolitan areas; implementing a WMD hotline; improving DoD chemical/biological rapid response; conducting exercises to evaluate and improve current Defense WMD coordination capabilities; and developing and conducting exercises and preparedness tests in coordination with federal, state, and local agencies to improve interagency response to WMD incidents.
- $9.1 million to assist the U.S. Customs Service in the acquisition of equipment to detect and interdict the movement of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons or materials across U.S. borders.

In FY 1998, the Department is seeking $49.5 million to continue to: provide emergency response preparedness through first responder training and assistance to metropolitan area agencies; improve DoD rapid chemical/biological response; and, conduct preparedness tests in coordination with federal, state, and local agencies.

In addition to efforts to assist federal, state, and local first responders, the Department has established, in cooperation with the Department of Energy and the Director of Central Intelligence, a committee to address interagency and interdepartmental issues related to technologies and systems for countering proliferation of WMD, including terrorist activity. The committee brings senior level attention to the various programs in our departments to help ensure effective application of resources among DoD, DoE, and the Intelligence Community. This process also promotes close cooperation among the participating agencies on technology projects. Within the DoD, we have increased funding to enhance our special operations capability to address terrorist use of WMD. The funds will be used for training and acquiring equipment to address this mission.

The Department's approach to improve equipment for combating terrorism is multifaceted and includes the following: identifying off-the-shelf solutions; conducting advanced development rapid-prototyping programs; pursuing technology initiatives similar to Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrations; and identifying high-return exploratory development programs for long-range, more capable solutions.

R&D for combating terrorism is separated into two categories--those efforts conducted to satisfy DoD requirements only and those conducted to satisfy DoD requirements that are common with other U.S. government agencies or its allies. Activities in the first category include efforts conducted by and for the U.S. Special Operations Command to satisfy counterterrorism requirements, and by the Joint Physical Security Equipment Program to develop equipment to meet antiterrorism and force protection requirements.

We recognize that combating terrorism is not a DoD-unique problem, but a multi-agency and international problem. In that regard, we coordinate our efforts with the R&D initiatives of other U.S. government agencies and with the programs of three countries--Israel, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The Department has executed cooperative R&D agreements with all three countries. An example of this coordination is the Department's recent consolidation of separate efforts in counterterrorism explosive research into one effort under the Counterterror Technical Support Program to ensure a focused Government-wide effort that addresses common requirements among Defense, Justice, Treasury, and two international partners.

Both the interagency and international programs provide us with opportunities to combine our efforts, avoid duplication, and accelerate the operational use of equipment. This explains, in part, the successes that were achieved with modest amounts of funding in the Counterterror Technical Support Program--a fast-track R&D program that addresses the multi-agency and international dimensions of terrorism. The DoD executes this program to address the interagency and international requirements identified and prioritized by the TSWG. Typically, it fields equipment in one to three years.

The TSWG is a subgroup of the National Security Council's Interagency Working Group on Counterterrorism that focuses interagency and international R&D requirements. It a unique forum where representatives from eight U.S. Departments and over 50 U.S. agencies identify and prioritize R&D requirements and recommend projects for funding. This is accomplished by addressing requirements and technologies in seven functional subgroups, whose members represent both user and developer communities. The users include representatives from Defense, State, Justice, Transportation, Treasury, and the CIA. Recently we have added state and local law enforcement and emergency agencies to the TSWG. Technology and equipment developers are government laboratories, the national laboratories, industry, and academia. Users work closely with developers to ensure program success.

This coordinated Counterterror Technical Support effort has yielded some recent successes to include: 14 items that were deployed to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta; several items that are being used to protect the President; and special nuclear materials detectors deployed to foreign countries and key U.S. airports. One item developed and fielded for response to WMD incidents is a Chemical/Biological Explosive Ordnance Disposal Suit, which was developed in cooperation with the Canadians. The suit is designed to afford operators protection against blast and chemical/biological agents. Another item is a foam mitigation system developed in our national program that mitigates blast and agent release from an explosively-driven chemical or biological device. Both of these items were deployed to the Atlanta Olympics. Our technology thrust areas are based on the latest Intelligence Community threat assessments, the findings in the response to Presidential Decision Directive/NSC-39, "US. Policy on Counterterrorism," and a continual review of user requirements. Notwithstanding the increased emphasis in PDD/NSC-39 on countering terrorist use of WMD, the TSWG has long recognized the importance of WMD, especially the chemical/biological threat. This importance has been reflected in its project selection for the past six years.

This is a brief overview of the initiatives the DoD is undertaking to combat the effects of terrorism. The Department recognizes its responsibilities in countering the increasing terrorist threat, and is conducting a comprehensive program with other agencies at the federal, state, and local levels and with international partners.