COMBATING TERRORISM: IN SEARCH OF A NATIONAL STRATEGY HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY, VETERANS AFFAIRS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MARCH 27, 2001 Serial No. 107–18 Printed for the use of the Committee on Government Reform ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/congress/house http://www.house.gov/reform U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 75–970 PDF WASHINGTON : 2001 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:49 Nov 27, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 C:\DOCS\75970.TXT HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM DAN BURTON, Indiana, Chairman BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York HENRY A. WAXMAN, California CONSTANCE A. MORELLA, Maryland TOM LANTOS, California CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut MAJOR R. OWENS, New York ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York JOHN M. MCHUGH, New York PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania STEPHEN HORN, California PATSY T. MINK, Hawaii JOHN L. MICA, Florida CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York THOMAS M. DAVIS, Virginia ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, Washington, MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana DC JOE SCARBOROUGH, Florida ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland STEVEN C. LATOURETTE, Ohio DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio BOB BARR, Georgia ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, Illinois DAN MILLER, Florida DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois DOUG OSE, California JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts RON LEWIS, Kentucky JIM TURNER, Texas JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia THOMAS H. ALLEN, Maine TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois DAVE WELDON, Florida WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri CHRIS CANNON, Utah ——— ——— ADAM H. PUTNAM, Florida ——— ——— C.L. ‘‘BUTCH’’ OTTER, Idaho ——— EDWARD L. SCHROCK, Virginia BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont ——— ——— (Independent) KEVIN BINGER, Staff Director DANIEL R. MOLL, Deputy Staff Director JAMES C. WILSON, Chief Counsel ROBERT A. BRIGGS, Chief Clerk PHIL SCHILIRO, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY, VETERANS AFFAIRS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut, Chairman ADAM H. PUTNAM, Florida DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida THOMAS H. ALLEN, Maine JOHN M. MCHUGH, New York TOM LANTOS, California STEVEN C. LATOURETTE, Ohio JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts RON LEWIS, Kentucky JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri DAVE WELDON, Florida ——— ——— C.L. ‘‘BUTCH’’ OTTER, Idaho ——— ——— EDWARD L. SCHROCK, Virginia EX OFFICIO DAN BURTON, Indiana HENRY A. WAXMAN, California LAWRENCE J. HALLORAN, Staff Director and Counsel R. NICHOLAS PALARINO, Senior Policy Advisor JASON CHUNG, Clerk DAVID RAPALLO, Minority Counsel (II) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:49 Nov 27, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\75970.TXT HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1 C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on March 27, 2001 ............................................................................ 1 Statement of: Hoffman, Bruce, director, Washington Office, RAND Corp.; James Clap- per, Jr., Lieutenant General, USAF (Ret.), vice chairman, Advisory Panel to Assess the Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism In- volving Weapons of Mass Destruction, accompanied by Michael Wermuth, project director; and Frank Cilluffo, chairman, Report on Combating Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Terrorism, Center for Strategic and International Studies .......................................... 88 Rudman, Hon. Warren B., Co-Chair, U.S. Commission on National Secu- rity/21st Century; and Charles G. Boyd, General, USAF (Ret.), execu- tive director, U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century ......... 19 Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by: Cilluffo, Frank, chairman, Report on Combating Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Terrorism, Center for Strategic and Inter- national Studies, prepared statement of ..................................................... 127 Clapper, James, Jr., Lieutenant General, USAF (Ret.), vice chairman, Advisory Panel to Assess the Domestic Response Capabilities for Ter- rorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction, prepared statement of ..................................................................................................................... 104 General Accounting Office, prepared statement of ........................................ 11 Hoffman, Bruce, director, Washington Office, RAND Corp., prepared statement of ................................................................................................... 92 Kucinich, Hon. Dennis J., a Representative in Congress from the State of Ohio, prepared statement of .................................................................... 6 Rudman, Hon. Warren B., Co-Chair, U.S. Commission on National Secu- rity/21st Century, prepared statement of ................................................... 25 Shays, Hon. Christopher, a Representative in Congress from the State of Connecticut: Article by Sydney Freedberg, Jr., entitled, ‘‘Beyond the Blue Canar- ies’’ .......................................................................................................... 77 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 3 (III) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:49 Nov 27, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\75970.TXT HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:49 Nov 27, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\75970.TXT HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1 COMBATING TERRORISM: IN SEARCH OF A NATIONAL STRATEGY TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2001 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY, VETERANS AFFAIRS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room 2247, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher Shays (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Shays, Putnam, Lewis of Kentucky, Gil- man, Kucinich, and Tierney. Staff present: Lawrence J. Halloran, staff director and counsel; R. Nicholas Palarino, senior policy advisor; Thomas Costa, profes- sional staff member; Jason Chung, clerk; Alex Moore, fellow; David Rapallo, minority counsel; Earley Green, minority assistant clerk; and Teresa Coufal, minority staff assistant. Mr. SHAYS. A quorum being present, the Subcommittee on Na- tional Security, Veterans Affairs and International Relations’ hear- ing entitled, ‘‘Combating Terrorism: In Search of a National Strat- egy,’’ is called to order. Last week we learned the stalled investigation of the Khobar Towers bombing that killed 19 Americans has been beset by a long- simmering power struggle between the FBI Director and the U.S. Attorney assigned to bring terrorism perpetrators to justice. Trans- fer of the case to another prosecutor may breathe new life into the 5-year-old inquiry, but the change is also a symptom of a suffocat- ing problem plaguing the Federal effort to combat terrorism—in a word, ‘‘turf.’’ In 1995, the President designated the Federal Emergency Man- agement Agency as the lead Federal agency for consequence man- agement—the measures needed to protect life, restore essential services, and provide emergency relief after a terrorism event in- volving conventional, biological, chemical, or radiological weapons of mass destruction. The FBI, part of the Department of Justice, was directed to lead crisis management—the measures needed to prevent or punish acts of terrorism. Today, more than 40 Federal departments and agencies operate programs to deter, detect, prepare for, and respond to terrorist at- tacks. We put their names out to demonstrate how difficult it would be to get them all in one room, much less get them all to speak with one voice. (1) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:49 Nov 27, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\75970.TXT HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1 2 While some interagency cooperation and information sharing has begun, substantial barriers, including legislative mandates, still prevent a fully coordinated counterterrorism effort. As the organi- zational charts get more complex, the effort inevitably becomes less cohesive. In our previous hearings, we found duplicative research pro- grams and overlapping preparedness training. Despite expenditure of more than $9 billion last year, many local first responders still lack basic training and equipment. According to our witnesses this morning, the fight against terror- ism remains fragmented and unfocused, primarily because no over- arching national strategy guides planning, directs spending, or dis- ciplines bureaucratic balkanization. They will discuss recommenda- tions for reform of counterterrorism programs that the new admin- istration would be wise, very wise, to consider. When pressed for a national strategy, the previous administra- tion pointed to a pastiche of event-driven Presidential decision di- rectives and an agency-specific 5-year plan. Reactive in vision and scope, that strategy changed only as we lurched from crisis to cri- sis, from Khobar to the U.S.S. Cole, from Oklahoma City to Dar es Salaam. In January, the subcommittee wrote to Dr. Condoleeza Rice, the President’s national security advisor, regarding the need for a clear national strategy to combat terrorism.