STATEMENT BY
HONORABLE PAUL MCHALE
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
FOR HOMELAND SECURITY
BEFORE THE
108th CONGRESS
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, UNCONVENTIONAL
THREATS AND CAPABILITIES
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 4, 2004
Introduction
Chairman Saxton, Congressman
Meehan, distinguished members of this
Subcommittee: Thank you for inviting me back
to address the critical subject of our
nation's security. I appreciate the
opportunity to return today to update you on
our progress. When I appeared before this
Subcommittee a year ago, new Department of
Defense (DoD) organizational structures for
homeland defense were still under
development. With a continuing sense of
urgency and focus, DoD has implemented
substantial improvements in homeland defense
capabilities over the past year, increasing
the safety of the nation. At the same time,
there is no reason for complacency. We
fully recognize that significant challenges
lie ahead.
The
focus of DoD's efforts to combat terrorism
is on bringing the fight to the terrorists
abroad through the prosecution of the global
war on terrorism. Thus, our first line of
defense is abroad -- to confront the enemy
where he lives, trains, plans, and recruits,
as we are doing today in Afghanistan and
Iraq. Since my last appearance, the Global
War on Terror has achieved many more
successes. U.S. forces toppled Saddam
Hussein's vicious regime in Iraq, freeing
its innocent population from the grip of
tyranny. We have captured or killed nearly
two-thirds of al-Qaeda's known senior
operatives. We have disrupted terrorist
cells throughout the world, likely
preventing planned attacks and disrupting
the planning of others. The second line of
defense also lies beyond the borders of the
nation -- the air and maritime avenues of
approach - where we will engage terrorists
before they reach our borders. Inside our
borders, the domestic law enforcement
community is responsible for countering
terrorist threats; and the Department of
Defense stands ready to provide assets and
capabilities in support of civil
authorities, consistent with U.S. law.
DoD's Role in the Security
of Our Nation
As you
know, following the tragic events of 9/11,
at the direction of the President and with
Congressional support, DoD moved quickly to
establish new organizations focused on
homeland defense and civil support: U.S.
Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and the Office
of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Homeland Defense (ASD(HD)).
At the
request of the Secretary of Defense, the
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense
for Homeland Defense was established by
Congress in the Bob Stump National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003. I
am honored to have been nominated by the
President and confirmed by the Senate to
serve as the first Assistant Secretary of
Defense for Homeland Defense. My office was
established in recognition of the need to
have a focal point to assist the Secretary
improve policy and provide guidance to
combatant commanders regarding air, ground,
and maritime defense of U.S. territory and
the conduct of support to civilian
authorities. As provided in the
establishing statutory language, I provide
overall supervision of the homeland defense
activities of DoD.
You will
recall that on October 1, 2002, DoD
activated NORTHCOM, headquartered in
Colorado Springs, Colorado. This is the
first combatant command with a primary
mission to defend the land, sea, and air
approaches to the United States. NORTHCOM
conducts operations within its assigned area
of responsibility to deter, prevent, and
defeat threats and aggression aimed at the
United States, its territories, and
interests. Accordingly, as directed by the
President or Secretary of Defense, NORTHCOM
would direct military operations within its
area of responsibility, including combat
operations. In addition, when directed by
the President or Secretary of Defense,
NORTHCOM would also provide military
assistance to civil authorities
to mitigate the results of disasters
and catastrophes, including those resulting
from a WMD attack.
NORTHCOM's area of responsibility includes
the continental United States, Alaska,
Canada, Mexico, and the surrounding water
out to approximately 500 nautical miles.
The defense of Hawaii and U.S. territories
and possessions in the Pacific remains the
responsibility of U.S. Pacific Command. The
commander of NORTHCOM is also the commander
of the bi-national U.S.-Canada North
American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
I am pleased to report that NORTHCOM
achieved full operational capability on
September 11, 2003 and is fully able to
conduct missions assigned to the command in
the Unified Command Plan.
Air domain.
NORAD guards, patrols, and monitors the
skies over Canada and the United States.
Each and every day the men and women of the
United States Air Force, United States Air
Force Reserve, and the Air National Guard
secure the skies over major metropolitan
areas, historic monuments, and our nation's
critical infrastructure. Since September
11, 2001, these dedicated professionals have
executed over 30,000 air defense sorties and
responded to over 1700 requests from the
Federal Aviation Administration to intercept
potential air threats.
Maritime domain.
Similarly, the U.S. Navy mans the sea
approaches to the United States and works
with the U.S. Coast Guard to patrol
international waters and our territorial
seas. On a daily basis, the U.S. Navy
vigilantly monitors the blue water
approaches to our nation's territorial seas,
operating under new and expanded authority
to interdict vessels potentially bearing
terrorists or their weapons before they
reach our shores. Further, under Operation
NOBLE EAGLE, naval maritime surveillance and
engagement forces are designated for
transfer to NORTHCOM command and control
when directed by the Secretary of Defense.
Land domain.
The Homeland Security Act of 2002 assigns
the Secretary of Homeland Security the
responsibility for the security of the
nation's borders. That responsibility
includes preventing terrorists and
instruments of terrorism from penetrating
our borders, protecting our ports of entry,
immigration enforcement, and ensuring the
speedy, orderly, and efficient flow of
lawful traffic and commerce. DoD's role in
that border security mission is to provide
support to civil authorities, principally
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),
when appropriate. To that end, DoD is
prepared to respond swiftly when required.
DoD has established and maintains Quick
Reaction Forces and Rapid Reaction Forces,
which, when deployed, will operate under
NORTHCOM command and control. These
highly-trained U.S. Army and Marine Corps
personnel are postured to respond to the
full range of potential threats to the
United States. Additionally, when
authorized by the Secretary of Defense, in
the case of a WMD attack, Joint Task Force
Civil Support headquartered in Norfolk,
Virginia, Joint Task Force Consequence
Management East headquartered at Fort Gillem,
Georgia, or Joint Task Force Consequence
Management West headquartered at Fort Sam
Houston, Texas, under the command and
control of NORTHCOM, would provide
consequence management support to civil
authorities.
Role of DoD
and Other Agency Exercises
DoD is committed to
maintaining the readiness of military forces
to execute the full spectrum of homeland
defense operations and to support civil
authorities, when needed. To this end, DoD
has hosted or participated in our own
exercises and those sponsored by other
government entities. Over the last year,
these include: Unified Defense (February
2003); TOPOFF 2 (May 2003); Determined
Promise (August 2003); Livewire (October
2003); Scarlet Cloud (November 2003); and
Unified Defense (February 2004). These
exercises addressed a range of potential
threats to the United States, from cyber
attacks to bioterror attacks, and from
radiological attacks to a nuclear
detonation. The exercises support the DHS
National Homeland Security Exercise Program
established by the December 2003 Homeland
Security Presidential Directive-8 (HSPD-8)
on National Preparedness. Homeland security
and homeland defense exercises are critical
in identifying gaps and potential weaknesses
within each agency and across agencies in
responding to terrorist attacks, including
multiple, simultaneous challenges.
DoD Support of Critical Infrastructure
Protection
Public Law 107-296 (the
Homeland Security Act of 2002) assigned DHS
the responsibility to develop a
comprehensive national plan to protect our
nation's critical infrastructure and key
assets. The National Strategy to Secure
Cyberspace (February 2003) and the National
Strategy for the Physical Protection of
Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets
(February 2003), as well as HSPD-7 on
Critical Infrastructure Identification,
Prioritization, and Protection, (December
2003) designate DoD as the Sector Specific
Agency
for the Defense Industrial
Base sector. This designation recognizes
DoD's important
role in the protection of the nation's
critical infrastructure that sustain our
capability to defend our nation and fight
its wars.
In this capacity, DoD must
work closely with private sector owners of
critical defense infrastructure to deter,
mitigate, or neutralize terrorist attacks in
order to sustain military operations.
In September 2003, I was
assigned the responsibility for Defense
Critical Infrastructure Protection by the
Secretary of Defense. Since then, we have
consolidated Critical Infrastructure
Protection (CIP) funding within the Office
Secretary of Defense into a single program,
managed by the newly-established Defense
Program Office for Mission Assurance. Under
my oversight, this office conducts focused
research and development using a systems
approach for CIP activities supporting DoD
missions. We have also taken steps to
protect critical defense installations and
facilities from chemical, biological,
radiological, and nuclear threats. Pentagon
efforts are helping to develop DoD-wide
installation protection standards and
requirements, which we will apply at 200
other key installations over the next few
years.
Intelligence and
Information Sharing
DoD works closely with the
constituent elements of the intelligence
community to maintain maximum awareness of
potential attacks against and emerging
threats to the United States. My office
engages actively with the Under Secretary of
Defense for Intelligence (USD(I)),
established in 2003 by Public Law 107-314,
on all homeland defense intelligence
matters. USDI is charged with ensuring that
the senior DoD leadership receives the
warning, actionable intelligence, and
counter-intelligence support needed to
pursue all of the objectives of the updated
defense strategy, including defense of the
homeland. USD(I) also provides a single
point of contact for coordination of
national and military intelligence
activities with the Community Management
Staff under the Director of Central
Intelligence (DCI) and strengthens the
relationship between the Secretary of
Defense and the DCI.
With the assistance of my
office, the Office of the Under Secretary of
Defense for Intelligence, is working with
DHS and other federal departments and
agencies to fulfill the tasking set forth by
Executive Order 13311, "Homeland Security
Information Sharing," (July 2003) to
establish procedures for the horizontal
sharing of information between federal
agencies and the vertical sharing of
information with authorities at the state
and local levels.
Additionally, DoD is a full
partner in the Terrorist Threat Integration
Center (TTIC), a multi-agency joint venture
announced by the President in the January
2003 State of the Union address and launched
in May 2003. TTIC integrates
terrorist-threat related information,
minimizing
any seams between analysis of terrorism
intelligence collected overseas and inside
the United States,
to form a comprehensive threat picture. On
a daily basis, TTIC coordinates terrorist
threat assessments with partner agencies,
including DoD, DHS, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the Central Intelligence
Agency, and the Department of State.
DoD Relationship with the
Department of Homeland Security
DoD focuses on and is
responsible for homeland defense, which is
the protection of United States territory,
domestic population, and critical defense
infrastructure against external threats
and aggression. It also includes
routine, steady-state activities designed to
deter aggressors and to prepare U.S.
military forces for action if deterrence
fails. DHS, on the other hand, focuses on
homeland security, which is defined in the
2002 National Strategy for Homeland Security
as "a concerted national effort to prevent
terrorist attacks within the United
States, reduce the vulnerability of the
United States to terrorism, and minimize the
damage and assist in the recovery from
terrorist attacks."
In simpler terms, the Defense
Department provides the military defense of
our nation from all attacks that originate
from abroad, while DHS protects the nation
against, and prepares for, acts of
terrorism. DoD is organized and prepared,
however, at the direction of the President
and the Secretary of Defense, to play a
vital role in support of the DHS mission.
As the Secretary of Defense's
principal representative to the DHS, I have
worked hard to build upon on our excellent
working relationships throughout the
Department of Homeland Security. We have
nearly completed a memorandum of agreement
with DHS, under which DoD will continue to
provide on a detail basis some sixty-four
personnel to the Department of Homeland
Security to fill critical specialties,
principally in the areas of communications
and intelligence. We have also established
a 24/7 DoD presence in the DHS Homeland
Security Operations Center with direct
connectivity back to DoD for rapid
response. Additionally, we established
planning teams to assist the DHS Interagency
Incident Management Group - a group of
senior interagency officials focused on
incident response. This year, we are also
enhancing our partnership with DHS by
establishing a DoD advisory and liaison
office -- called the Homeland Defense
Coordination Office -- within DHS
headquarters.
In accordance with Section
1401 of Public Law 107-314, I serve as the "senior
official of the Department of Defense to
coordinate all Department of Defense efforts
to identify, evaluate, deploy, and transfer
to Federal, State, and local first
responders technology items and equipment in
support of homeland security." In that
capacity, I work closely with the DHS Under
Secretary for Science and Technology.
Recent examples of technology
transfer initiatives include:
information-sharing systems, such as the
Disaster Management Interoperability
Services; biometrics identification
technologies; ground sensors and their
application in border security; and unmanned
aerial vehicle experimentation.
Additionally, new Advaced Concept Technology
Demonstration (ACTD) efforts are underway
that have the potential to deliver
capabilities supporting both DoD missions
abroad and DHS missions at home. These
include the High Altitude Airship, a
prototype untethered platform that could
provide wide area surveillance and
communications capabilities, and the Air
Transportable Cargo screening ACTD, designed
to detect explosive threats in pallet cargo
loads moving through military transportation
systems.
Finally, DoD invests nearly
$100 million yearly in the Technical Support
Working Group (TSWG), a U.S. national forum
that brings together over 85 federal
agencies to identify, prioritize, and
coordinate interagency and international
research and development requirements for
combating terrorism. The TSWG rapidly
develops technologies and equipment to meet
the high-priority needs of the combating
terrorism community. These technologies
typically are also applicable to first
responders and other homeland security
missions. DHS is now a partner in the TSWG.
Homeland Security Council
The President established the
Office of Homeland Security (OHS) and the
Homeland Security Council (HSC) on October
8, 2001 to develop and implement a
comprehensive national strategy to secure
the United States from terrorist threats.
The Department of Defense coordinates with
the Assistant to the President for Homeland
Security and staff as appropriate. The
Secretary of Defense is, along with the
President, Vice President, Secretary of
Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and
other Cabinet officials, a member of the HSC.
DoD worked closely with the OHS from October
2001 to March 2003, and continues to do so
with its successor, the HSC staff.
As the Assistant Secretary of
Defense for Homeland Defense, I am DoD's
principal representative to the HSC staff
and normally represent DoD at HSC principals
and deputies committee meetings. My office
represents DoD on the HSC's inter-agency
policy coordination committees (PCCs) and
subordinate working groups, with the
participation of other DoD offices as
appropriate.
From personal experience, I can attest that
the HSC has become an effective forum for
interagency communication on homeland
security and homeland defense matters,
including evaluation of terrorist threats
and the development of responses in a crisis
environment. As one example, the HSC
functioned effectively throughout the tense
weeks of Code Orange alert during the
December 2003 holiday season.
Defense Support to Civil
Authorities
DoD has a long tradition of
support to civil authorities, while
maintaining its primary mission of fighting
and winning the nation's wars. Since my last
testimony, DoD has continued to lend
necessary assistance to civil authorities
when they were overwhelmed or faced with
challenges necessitating the Department's
unique capabilities. Last year we acted on
75 requests for assistance from more than 20
civilian agencies, including DHS, the
Department of Justice, the Department of
Health and Human Services, the Department of
Transportation, the Department of State, the
National Air and Space Administration, the
U.S. Marshals Service, and the National
Interagency Fire Center.
To provide several brief
examples of civil support activities last
year, DoD provided emergency support in
natural disasters such as Hurricane Isabel
in September 2003 and the October 2003
California wildfires. During the January
2004 ricin incident on Capitol Hill,
NORTHCOM's Joint Force Headquarters-National
Capitol Region, in its first operational
use, provided command and control of U.S.
Marine Corps Chemical-Biological Incident
Response Force assistance to the U.S.
Capitol Police.
Conclusion
Throughout our history, U.S. military forces
- active duty and reserves -- have defended
our nation against its enemies on land, at
sea, and in the air, adapting continuously
to engage threats to our nation.
Today we
face a challenge that is equal to or greater
than any we have ever faced before. We must
cope not only with the threats produced by
the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction and missile technology among
nation-states, but also with threats posed
by individual terrorists and terrorist
organizations with global reach.
Throughout DoD we are transforming,
increasing our capabilities for warfighting
and homeland defense on a daily basis, while
continuing a long tradition of support to
civil authorities. Homeland defense and
homeland security are featured on Secretary
Rumsfeld's top priorities list for this
year. We intend to develop a comprehensive
Homeland Defense Strategy for the 21st
century. This strategy will support the
National Security Strategy, the National
Strategy for Homeland Security, and the
updated Defense Strategy. It will also
provide the framework for pursuing
operational capabilities to prepare for
tomorrow's challenges.
Mr. Chairman, I commend you and the members
of this subcommittee for your continued
interest, efforts, and support in the
Department's homeland defense mission.
The citizens of this nation, its
institutions, and our brave men and women in
uniform have repeatedly demonstrated the
patriotism, toughness, innovation,
determination, and resiliency to defeat our
enemies while retaining our freedoms.
There is no doubt in my mind that those
capabilities will be tested against this
newest enemy threat - nor is there any doubt
that we will prevail.