28 April 2003
Black Says Global War on Terrorism Showing Results
(State Department's annual terrorism report to be published April 30) (680) By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr. Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- International terrorism is showing signs of weakening somewhat because of the aggressive global war being waged against it in an environment of international cooperation, says the State Department's top counterterrorism official. Ambassador J. Cofer Black, coordinator for counterterrorism at the department, said "The real success story in this counterterrorism initiative is the leadership role taken by the United States that was defined by President Bush and supplemented by the various departmental leaders, such as Secretary of State Colin Powell and others, to mobilize a coalition of allies and some [countries] that were less than allies." Black, who heads all U.S. efforts to improve anti-terrorism cooperation with other countries, said in a recent interview with the Washington File that the number of countries that are less helpful is "very, very small," Black indicated during the interview that the U.S. government's "2002 Patterns of Global Terrorism" report -- scheduled for release April 30 in Washington -- will show encouraging results in all regions in the global battle to rein in international terrorism. Black said the events of September 11, 2001, helped catalyze the nation and the world to wage a concerted effort to halt further terrorism. The State Department produces an annual report on terrorism for Congress that includes detailed assessments of foreign countries where significant terrorist attacks occurred. It also focuses on countries identified for providing state support to terrorists and terrorist groups. Congress also requires that the State Department report specify the extent to which other countries cooperate with the United States in apprehending, convicting, and punishing terrorists. Black became coordinator for counterterrorism December 3, 2002, after a 28-year career in the Directorate of Operations at the Central Intelligence Agency, where he had served as director of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center. "The president has asked the countries of the world to cooperate up to their capabilities, and they did," Black said. "Looking back, history will mark this period as a time when men of good will came together and did the right thing in protecting the citizens of the world." While terrorism is still present, and terrorist acts continue to be perpetrated, the intensity of the global war against terrorism has grown with encouraging results, he said. In the period since the terrorist attacks carried out against the United States in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has been destroyed and the safe haven for the international terrorist group al-Qaida has been terminated, Black said. He noted that the war continues to be fought across five fronts: diplomatic, intelligence, law enforcement, financial and military. "The security environment has greatly improved. The results of these efforts have produced a security environment that is more secure than it was before 9/11," Black said. "Related to our enhanced security is that the terrorists, the object of this war, are less secure. They are under extreme pressure and stress. They are less capable of preparing and launching operations." Black said key terrorist groups that had especially targeted the United States are now tending toward a smaller number of spectacular attacks. "There is a lot of work that goes into attacks if you want to be successful at an act of terrorism," Black said. "Their operational capabilities are severely limited and they are unable to effectively mount attacks on high-value targets. "The ability to develop effective coordinated attacks has been severely limited by collective intelligence efforts and [by] coalition military applying pressure on these terrorist groups", Black added. While enhanced security efforts have helped to curb long-term terrorist planning, terrorist groups have also sustained catastrophic losses of personnel, he said. "As a consequence, these groups are shifting to quicker operations to mount using less-trained personnel where the failure rate is much higher," Black said. "They can't do what they want to do; they're doing that which is left to them. And, they are being hunted down relentlessly." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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