17 November 2010
Cooperation Is Effective in Countering Terrorism
Washington — A global threat such as terrorism demands that nations work more closely together than ever to prevent new attacks and disrupt terrorist groups, and for nearly a decade this collaboration has been working, says the State Department’s top counterterrorism official.
At a special briefing, Ambassador Daniel Benjamin told reporters that cooperation around the world over the last nine years has been remarkable.
“In the critical areas of intelligence and law enforcement, governments have joined together time and again and prevented real attacks,” Benjamin said. He is the State Department’s counterterrorism coordinator.
An additional part of the approach being taken by the United States is to provide targeted development assistance that helps governments improve their ability to govern and provide vital services to their citizens, which effectively prevents terrorist groups from gaining a foothold in local communities, Benjamin said November 17 at a Washington Foreign Press Center briefing.
Benjamin pointed out that dangerous conspiracies aimed at the United States and Europe have been disrupted because of effective information sharing.
“Al-Qaida and its followers have clearly demonstrated that they have both the U.S. and Europe squarely in their sights, and close cooperation between us is essential to successfully counter the common threat we face,” he said.
Two of the United States’ most effective counterterrorism programs are the Treasury Department’s Terrorist Financial Tracking Program, which cuts off vital funding to terrorist groups, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Passenger Name Records Program, which helps identify potential terrorists trying to enter the United States.
The programs, though, have not been without controversy over privacy concerns, but Benjamin said European allies and the United States are working to protect citizens’ security and personal data. Real progress has been made in recent years in drying up the financial resources available to terrorists around the world, and those who previously offered support have been deterred from offering terrorists more assistance, he added.
This, Benjamin said, is why some terrorist groups are increasingly turning to criminal activities to pay for their operations, a pattern noted by experts for many years. Chief among the crimes to finance terrorism is kidnapping in return for extremely high ransoms.
One example he cited is al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which is increasingly relying on kidnappings for ransom, either independently or with criminal groups, to pay for its terrorist operations.
“This is a real problem, and there exists the prospect that … groups like this will not only become more powerful, more capable, be able to support their operatives more effectively and thereby also enhance their recruitment, but will also be passing funds to other parts of the al-Qaida network,” Benjamin said. “We’re deeply concerned about that.”
(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)
