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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE'S ROLE IN COMBATING TERRORISM AND FORCE PROTECTION LESSONS LEARNED SINCE THE ATTACK ON THE U.S.S. COLE

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SPECIAL OVERSIGHT PANEL ON TERRORISM

JIM SAXTON, NEW JERSEY, Chairman

DUNCAN HUNTER, California
JAMES V. HANSEN, Utah
CURT WELDON, Pennsylvania
TERRY EVERETT, Alabama
ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland
J.C. WATTS, JR., Oklahoma
JOHN N. HOSTETTLER, Indiana
JIM GIBBONS, Nevada
ROBIN HAYES, North Carolina
KEN CALVERT, California
ROB SIMMONS, Connecticut

VIC SNYDER, Arkansas
SILVESTRE REYES, Texas
JIM TURNER, Texas

LORETTA SANCHEZ, California
JAMES H. MALONEY, Connecticut
MIKE MCINTYRE, North Carolina
ROBERT E. ANDREWS, New Jersey
CIRO D. RODRIGUEZ, Texas
CYNTHIA A. MCKINNEY, Georgia
BARON P. HILL, Indiana

JAMES R. LANGEVIN, Rhode Island

DAVID TRACHTENBERG, Professional Staff Member
PETER PRY, Professional Staff Member
WILLIAM NATTER, Professional Staff Member
JARROD TISDELL, Research Assistant

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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE'S ROLE IN COMBATING TERRORISM AND FORCE PROTECTION LESSONS LEARNED SINCE THE ATTACK ON THE U.S.S. COLE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES,
SPECIAL OVERSIGHT PANEL ON TERRORISM,

Washington, DC, Thursday, June 14, 2001. The panel met, pursuant to call, at 1:05 p.m. in room 2212, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Jim Saxton (chairman of the panel) presiding.

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JIM SAXTON, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW JERSEY, CHAIRMAN, SPECIAL OVERSIGHT PANEL ON TERRORISM

Mr. SAXTON. This afternoon the Special Oversight Panel on Terrorism convenes an open session to hold a hearing on the Department of Defense's antiterrorism and force protection program. The problem of combating terrorism, including terrorism directed against U.S. military personnel and interests abroad, is one of the most serious and challenging problems confronting the United States.

This fact has been brought home in recent years by several terrorist attacks against the U.S. interests abroad. Five years ago the Khobar Towers compound in Saudi Arabia was bombed, killing 19 American service personnel. Two years later, simultaneous attacks against U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania left hundreds of people dead and injured, including Americans. And most recently in October of 2000, terrorists attacked the U.S.S. Cole in the Aden harbor, Yemen, during a scheduled refueling stop.

The Department of Defense has a critical role to play in preventing these kinds of terrorist attacks directed against Americans and in ensuring the safety and security of American personnel who are deployed abroad, often in dangerous and potentially hostile environments in support of this country's national security.

Within the Department of Defense, the responsibility of protecting U.S. personnel from terrorist attacks is divided among various entities. Because of the magnitude of the task and the importance of ensuring effective coordination between those entities and other Federal agencies with antiterrorism and force protection responsibilities, the Congress in the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 directed the Secretary of Defense to designate an assistant secretary as the Department's focal point for DOD's efforts in combating terrorism. Last month, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld designated the Assistant Secretary

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