09 February 2011

U.S. Adapts Counterterrorism Efforts to Evolving Threats

By MacKenzie C. Babb
Staff Writer

Washington — The United States is continually adapting its “counterterrorism techniques to effectively detect, deter and prevent terrorist acts,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says.

The secretary testified before the U.S. House of Representative’s Homeland Security Committee on February 9.

According to her prepared remarks, she said the terrorist threat facing the United States has evolved significantly in the last 10 years, and that violent extremism no longer is “defined or contained by international borders.”

“Today, we must address threats that are homegrown as well as those that originate abroad,” Napolitano said. Terrorist groups have placed a growing emphasis on recruiting Westerners and inspiring them to launch small-scale attacks.

“This threat of homegrown violent extremism fundamentally changes who is most often in the best position to spot terrorist activity, investigate and respond. More and more, state, local and tribal front-line law enforcement officers are most likely to notice the first signs of terrorist activity,” Napolitano said.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been working for two years to build an enhanced security architecture to address these emerging threats.

Napolitano said the first part of the department’s effort is in “working directly with law enforcement and community-based organizations to counter violent extremism at its source,” enhancing relationships between law enforcement and members of diverse communities “that broadly and strongly reject violent extremism.”

“Second, DHS is focused on getting resources and information out of Washington, D.C., and into the hands of state and local law enforcement in order to provide them with the tools they need to combat the threats their communities face,” Napolitano said.

The department’s initiatives have included the creation of a new curriculum to guide state and local law enforcement on countering violent extremism; efforts to enhance community-based partnerships through close work with a diverse collection of religious, ethnic and other local organizations; and joint work with international allies that have experience with homegrown terrorism, such as Canada and the United Kingdom.

Napolitano highlighted four key pieces of the new homeland security architecture.

The first is the building of joint terrorism task forces, or “investigative teams that bring agencies together to investigate particular terrorism cases.” The task forces are led by the FBI.

The task forces will be enhanced by a network of 72 “state and major urban area fusion centers,” which are “analytical and information-sharing entities that bring agencies together to assess local implications of threat information in order to better understand the general threat picture,” she said.

Complementing those initiatives is the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative, which “creates a standard process for law enforcement to identify, document, vet and share reports of suspicious incidents or behaviors associated with specific threats of terrorism,” which can be used to identify broader trends.

The final part of the architecture is a public awareness campaign called “If You See Something, Say Something,” which encourages community-oriented policing to protect communities from crime. Napolitano stressed that “local law enforcement, community groups, citizens and the private sector play as much of a role in homeland security as the federal government.”

Her testimony said commercial aviation remains the top target of terrorists, and said DHS recently achieved a major milestone: 100 percent of passengers on flights within or bound for the United States are now being checked against government watch lists.

Napolitano also emphasized the importance of cybersecurity.

“At the same time that we work to strengthen the security of our critical physical infrastructure, we are also working to secure cyberspace — an effort that requires coordination and partnership among the multitude of different entities in both the government and private sector that share responsibility for important cyber infrastructure,” Napolitano said.

The secretary said DHS is working with the Defense Department and the National Security Agency to protect against threats to both civilian and military computer systems and networks.

“Working with our federal partners, law enforcement across the country, the private sector and the American public, we are making great progress in addressing today’s evolving terrorist threats,” Napolitano concluded.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)