COMBATING TERRORISM: A PROLIFERATION OF STRATEGIES HEARING BEFORE THE LIBRARY OF SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY, OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION NGRESS MARCH 3, 2003 Serial No. 108-20 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 87-702 PDF U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 2003 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM DAN BURTON, Indiana TOM DAVIS, Virginia, Chairman CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut RON LEWIS, Kentucky JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania ADAM H. PUTNAM, Florida JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan WILLIAM J. JANKLOW, South Dakota HENRY A. WAXMAN, California JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts DIANE E. WATSON, California STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California C.A. "DUTCH" RUPPERSBERGER, Maryland ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of Columbia JIM COOPER, Tennessee CHRIS BELL, Texas BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont (Independent) LL CONTENTS Decker, Raymond, Director, Defense Capabilities and Management Team, U.S. General Accounting Office, accompanied by Stephen L. Caldwell, Assistant Director, U.S. General Accounting Office Gilmore, James S., III, chairman, Advisory Panel to Assess the Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass De- struction; Michael E. O'Hanlon, senior fellow, foreign policy studies, the Sydney Stein, Jr. Chair, the Brookings Institution; John Newhouse, senior fellow, Center for Defense Information; and Andrew F. Krepinevich, executive director, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by: Decker, Raymond, Director, Defense Capabilities and Management Team, Gilmore, James S., III, chairman, Advisory Panel to Assess the Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass De- 15 Krepinevich, Andrew F., executive director, Center for Strategic and 148 Kucinich, Hon. Dennis J., a Representative in Congress from the State 7 Newhouse, John, senior fellow, Center for Defense Information, prepared O'Hanlon, Michael E., senior fellow, foreign policy studies, the Sydney 102 3 COMBATING TERRORISM: A PROLIFERATION OF STRATEGIES MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2003 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY, EMERGING THREATS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 1 p.m., in room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher Shays (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Shays, Turner, Murphy, Janklow, Kucinich, and Bell. Staff present: Lawrence Halloran, staff director and counsel; R. Nicholas Palarino, Ph.D., senior policy advisor; Thomas Costa, professional staff member; Robert A. Briggs, clerk; Mackenzie Eaglen, fellow; David Rapallo, minority counsel; and Jean Gosa, minority assistant clerk. Mr. SHAYS. A quorum being present, the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations hearing entitled, "Combating Terrorism: A Proliferation of Strategies," is called to order. Almost 2 years before the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction, far more widely and succinctly known as the Gilmore Commission, concluded the United States lacked a coherent, functional national strategy to guide disparate counterterrorism efforts. In testimony before the subcommittee on March 26, 2001, the Commission's vice chairman said, "a truly comprehensive national strategy will contain a high-level statement of national objectives coupled logically to a statement of the means used to achieve these objectives.' The Bush administration inherited a loose collection of Presidential directives and law enforcement planning documents used as a strategic framework, but that fragile construct collapsed with the World Trade Center on September 11th. The brutal nature of the terrorist threat shattered naive assumptions terrorists would be deterred by geographic, political, or moral borders. A new strategic paradigm was needed. Containment, deterrence, reaction and mutually assured destruction no longer served to protect the fundamental security interest of the American people. The threat demands detection, prevention, and a proactive, preemptive approach to self-defense. (1) |