Summary

Combating Terrorism: Issues to Be Resolved to Improve Counterterrorism Operations

NSIAD-99-135  May 13, 1999

Full Report (PDF, 28 pages)   

During the past three years, federal agencies have conducted several successful interagency operations overseas, including some in which suspected terrorists have been returned to the United States to stand trial. Some agencies have also deployed personnel and equipment to prepare for special events, such as the Atlanta Olympic Games. However, federal agencies have not completed interagency guidance or resolved command and control issues. To improve their response to terrorist attacks, federal agencies have conducted more than 200 exercises, half of which included three or more federal agencies. About one-third included state and local participants. However, the agencies have not fully achieved the interagency counterterrorist exercise program directed in a June 1995 Presidential directive. As a result, some complex transfers of command and control between agencies have not occurred. International field exercises, generally led by the Defense Department (DOD), included the full range of interagency players in demanding scenarios, some taking place with no notice. In contrast, domestic counterterrorism exercises are less demanding. The FBI's crisis management field exercises have provided good practice for its tactical response units, but generally have not exercised the Bureau's interagency leadership role and rapid deployments for no-warning terrorist attacks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) consequence management exercises have been limited to tabletop exercises that do not fully test the government's ability to provide a rapid interagency response in a realistic setting. DOD, the Department of Energy, and FEMA have requirements and processes in place to capture lessons learned from counterterrorist operations and exercises. These agencies, however, did not capture lessons learned from all the exercises they led or all the field exercises they participated in. Other federal agencies have less rigorous requirements and processes for capturing lessons learned. Establishing a process to record the lessons learned from counterterrorism operations and exercises would be beneficial and could improve future efforts.

Subject Terms

Combating terrorism
Counterterrorism
Crime prevention
Emergency management
Emergency preparedness
Homeland security
Interagency relations
National defense operations
Terrorism
Terrorists
FEMA Federal Response Plan
JCS Unified Command Plan
Nunn-Lugar-Domenici Domestic Preparedness Program
Oklahoma City (OK)