17 August 2006
Preventing Attacks Central to Effective Counterterrorism Strategy
U.S. attorney general outlines strategy against terrorists, post-9/11 reforms
Washington – The disruption August 10 of a trans-Atlantic terrorist plot to blow up U.S. air carriers highlights the international community’s progress in preventing attacks before they occur, says U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
“Prevention is the goal of all goals when it comes to terrorism, because we simply cannot and will not wait for these particular crimes to occur before taking action,” Gonzales said in an August 16 speech to the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh.
As attorney general, Gonzales serves as the top U.S. law enforcement officer, providing legal advice to the president and overseeing the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The war on terrorism, the attorney general said, highlights the challenges of confronting an enemy who takes advantage of the laws and legal protections that allow open, free societies to operate. The need, therefore, of closely integrated international partnerships to detect and defeat terrorist activities against democracies is of vital importance, he said. (See related article.)
More than 200 FBI agents worked with their British counterparts in the lead-up to the arrest of more than two-dozen suspects since August 10 in the plot to detonate liquid explosive on board U.S.-bound airliners, and several U.S. agents remain actively engaged in the ongoing investigation.
“The level of cooperation between the United States and our foreign counterparts is outstanding and is truly the untold story of the war on terror,” Gonzales said. (See related article.)
PREVENTION STRATEGY BUILT ON FOUR PILLARS
The department’s strategy of prevention, he said, is built on four pillars. The first is to conduct intensive, targeted national security investigations using every tool available under U.S. law to prevent terrorism.
Since the September 11, 2001, attacks on America, Gonzales said, the United States has utilized long-standing laws, like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, to monitor suspected terrorists, and new laws, such as the Patriot Act, to increase coordination among U.S. national, state and local law enforcement and intelligence agencies, allowing them to share information more effectively and to stop terrorist attacks before they occur. (See related article.)
The FBI also has undertaken a massive reorganization to confront the terrorist threat, he said, establishing the Directorate of Intelligence, hiring more officers, and implementing new training programs to help its agents spot potential terrorist activities. Analysts, linguists and surveillance specialists are formed into special intelligence groups operating at all 56 FBI field offices across the United States. These groups are also networked into 103 joint terrorism task forces, which work with state and local police departments to watch for potential terrorists.
“Like tiny but important pieces of a complicated puzzle, we can now take the most innocuous, seemingly unrelated pieces of information and connect the dots of a complex terrorist plot,” Gonzales said.
Because both domestic and foreign partnerships are essential to defeating terrorist networks, building cooperation is the second key component of the U.S counterterrorism strategy. The London incident demonstrated the value of prosecuting attorneys coming together to train, exchange intelligence and share information, he said. (See related article.)
The third pillar, he said, is to arrest and prosecute terrorist suspects, which requires a complex balance between allowing investigators to gather sufficient evidence without allowing the suspect’s to execute their planned attack.
While no two cases are the same, Gonzales emphasized that all investigations adhere strictly to U.S. civil liberties guarantees and the rule of law. “[W]e are fighting terrorists according to our constitution,” he said.
The fourth pillar of the department’s prevention strategy, the attorney general concluded, is an effort to counter radicalization.
While the international community significantly has weakened al-Qaida by destroying its training camps, freezing its assets and bringing its leaders to justice, the terrorists have turned to the Internet, where as many as 6,000 Web sites distribute propaganda and encourage individuals to join together to plan their own “homegrown” terrorist attacks. Others seeking to incite violence have infiltrated mosques, community centers and prisons to identify potential new recruits, Gonzales said.
The U.S. is working with its friends and allies to “develop the tools we need to investigate [terrorists’] actions and intentions with the help of our partners, and prosecute those who travel down the road of radicalization.”
With the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaching, the recent terror plot was “a chilling reminder of the threats that continue to exist,” Gonzales said.
“[F]or those of us in government whose job it is to protect our country from terrorism, every day is September 12th.” (See related e-Journal.)
A transcript of the attorney general’s speech is available on the Department of Justrice Web site.
For more information, see International Security and Response to Terrorism.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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