Produced by Al Haines
[Transcriber's note: Underscores denote italicized text, plus signs (+)
denote bolded text.]
National Strategy for
Combating Terrorism
February 2003
National Strategy for Combating Terrorism
INTRODUCTION
THE NATURE OF THE TERRORIST THREAT TODAY
_The Structure of Terror_
_The Changing Nature of Terrorism_
_A New Global Environment_
_Interconnected Terrorist Organizations_
_Availability of Weapons of Mass Destruction_
_Summary_
STRATEGIC INTENT
_Victory in the War Against Terror_
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
_Defeat Terrorists and Their Organizations_
_Deny Sponsorship, Support, and Sanctuary to Terrorists_
_Diminish the Underlying Conditions that Terrorists Seek to Exploit_
_Defend U.S. Citizens and Interests at Home and Abroad_
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
"_No group or nation should mistake America's intentions:
We will not rest until terrorist groups of global reach
have been found, have been stopped, and have been defeated._"
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
NOVEMBER 6, 2001
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in Washington, D.C., New
York City, and Pennsylvania were acts of war against the United States
of America and its allies, and against the very idea of civilized
society. No cause justifies terrorism. The world must respond and fight
this evil that is intent on threatening and destroying our basic
freedoms and our way of life. Freedom and fear are at war.
The enemy is not one person. It is not a single political regime.
Certainly it is not a religion. The enemy is terrorism--premeditated,
politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets
by subnational groups or clandestine agents. Those who employ
terrorism, regardless of their specific secular or religious
objectives, strive to subvert the rule of law and effect change through
violence and fear. These terrorists also share the misguided belief
that killing, kidnapping, extorting, robbing, and wreaking havoc to
terrorize people are legitimate forms of political action.
The struggle against international terrorism is different from any
other war in our history. We will not triumph solely or even primarily
through military might. We must fight terrorist networks, and all those
who support their efforts to spread fear around the world, using every
instrument of national power--diplomatic, economic, law enforcement,
financial, information, intelligence, and military. Progress will come
through the persistent accumulation of successes--some seen, some
unseen. And we will always remain vigilant against new terrorist
threats. Our goal will be reached when Americans and other civilized
people around the world can lead their lives free of fear from
terrorist attacks.
There will be no quick or easy end to this conflict. At the same time,
the United States, will not allow itself to be held hostage by
terrorists. Combating terrorism and securing the U.S. homeland from
future attacks are our top priorities. But they will not be our only
priorities. This strategy supports the National Security Strategy of
the United States. As the National Security Strategy highlights, we
live in an age with tremendous opportunities to foster a world
consistent with interests and values embraced by the United States and
freedom-loving people around the world. And we will seize these
opportunities.
This combating terrorism strategy further elaborates on Section III of
the the National Security Strategy by expounding on our need to destroy
terrorist organizations, win the "war of ideas," and strengthen
America's security at home and abroad. While the National Strategy for
Homeland Security focuses on preventing terrorist attacks within the
United States, the National Strategy for Combating Terrorism focuses on
identifying and defusing threats before they reach our borders.
While we appreciate the nature of the difficult challenge before us,
our strategy is based on the belief that sometimes the most difficult
tasks are accomplished by the most direct means.
Ours is a strategy of direct and continuous action against terrorist
groups, the cumulative effect of which will initially disrupt, over
time degrade, and ultimately destroy the terrorist organizations. The
more frequently and relentlessly we strike the terrorists across all
fronts, using all the tools of statecraft, the more effective we will
be.
The United States, with its unique ability to build partnerships and
project power, will lead the fight against terrorist organizations of
global reach. By striking constantly and ensuring that terrorists have
no place to hide, we will compress their scope and reduce the
capability of these organizations. By adapting old alliances and
creating new partnerships, we will facilitate regional solutions that
further isolate the spread of terrorism. Concurrently, as the scope of
terrorism becomes more localized, unorganized and relegated to the
criminal domain, we will rely upon and assist other states to eradicate
terrorism at its root.
The United States will constantly strive to enlist the support of the
international community in this fight against a common foe. If
necessary, however, we will not hesitate to act alone, to exercise our
right to self-defense, including acting preemptively against terrorists
to prevent them from doing harm to our people and our country.
The war on terrorism is asymmetric in nature but the advantage belongs
to us, not the terrorists. We will fight this campaign using our
strengths against the enemy's weaknesses. We will use the power of our
values to shape a free and more prosperous world. We will employ the
legitimacy of our government and our cause to craft strong and agile
partnerships. Our economic strength will help failing states and assist
weak countries in ridding themselves of terrorism. Our technology will
help identify and locate terrorist organizations, and our global reach
will eliminate them where they hide. And as always, we will rely on the
strength of the American people to remain resolute in the face of
adversity.
We will never forget what we are ultimately fighting for--our
fundamental democratic values and way of life. In leading the campaign
against terrorism, we are forging new international relationships and
redefining existing ones in terms suited to the transnational
challenges of the 21st century.
We seek to integrate nations and peoples into the mutually beneficial
democratic relationships that protect against the forces of disorder
and violence. By harnessing the power of humanity to defeat terrorism
in all its forms, we promote a freer, more prosperous, and more secure
world and give hope to our children and generations to come.
Ultimately, our fight against terrorism will help foster an
international environment where our democratic interests are secure and
the values of liberty are respected around the world.
THE NATURE OF THE TERRORIST THREAT TODAY
"_We have seen their kind before. They are the heirs of all the
murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing
human life to serve their radical visions--by abandoning
every value except the will to power--they follow
in the path of fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism.
And they will follow that path all the way, to where it ends:
in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies._"
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
ADDRESS TO A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS
AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
SEPTEMBER 20, 2001
Americans know that terrorism did not begin on September 11, 2001.
Regrettably, its history is long and all too familiar. The first major
terrorist attack on New York City's financial district, for instance,
did not occur on September 11, or even with the 1993 truck bombing of
the World Trade Center. It occurred September 16, 1920, when anarchists
exploded a horse cart filled with dynamite near the intersections of
Wall and Broad Streets, taking 40 lives and wounding about 300 others.
Starting with the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901
and continuing with the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and
Kenya in 1998 and the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000, American history in
the 20th century was punctuated by terrorism.
Americans also understand that we are not alone in the struggle against
terror. Terrorists have left their mark in some way upon every country
in the world. Citizens from some 90 countries died in the attacks of
September 11. For decades, the United States and our friends abroad
have waged the long struggle against the terrorist menace. We have
learned much from these efforts.
Even as we experience success in the war on terrorism, new enemies may
emerge. Thus, the United States will confront the threat of terrorism
for the foreseeable future. Consequently, we must continue to take
aggressive action to uncover individuals and groups engaged in
terrorist activity, by analyzing the common characteristics of
terrorists in order to understand where our enemies are weak and where
they are strong.
[Illustration: _Figure 1_: The Structure of Terror]
+The Structure of Terror+
Despite their diversity in motive, sophistication, and strength,
terrorist organizations share a basic structure as depicted in _figure
1_.
At the base, underlying conditions such as poverty, corruption,
religious conflict and ethnic strife create opportunities for
terrorists to exploit. Some of these conditions are real and some
manufactured. Terrorists use these conditions to justify their actions
and expand their support. The belief that terror is a legitimate means
to address such conditions and effect political change is a fundamental
problem enabling terrorism to develop and grow.
The international environment defines the boundaries within which
terrorists' strategies take shape. As a result of freer, more open
borders this environment unwittingly provides access to havens,
capabilities, and other support to terrorists. But access alone is not
enough. Terrorists must have a physical base from which to operate.
Whether through ignorance, inability, or intent, states around the
world still offer havens--both physical (e.g., safe houses, training
grounds) and virtual (e.g., reliable communication and financial
networks)--that terrorists need to plan, organize, train, and conduct
their operations. Once entrenched in a safe operating environment, the
organization can begin to solidify and expand. The terrorist
organization's structure, membership, resources, and security determine
its capabilities and reach. At the top of the structure, the terrorist
leadership provides the overall direction and strategy that links all
these factors and thereby breathes life into a terror campaign. The
leadership becomes the catalyst for terrorist action. The loss of the
leadership can cause many organizations to collapse. Some groups,
however, are more resilient and can promote new leadership should the
original fall or fail. Still others have adopted a more decentralized
organization with largely autonomous cells, making our challenge even
greater.
+The Changing Nature of Terrorism+
While retaining this basic structure, the terrorist challenge has
changed considerably over the past decade and likely will continue to
evolve. Ironically, the particular nature of the terrorist threat we
face today springs in large part from some of our past successes.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the United States and its allies combated
generally secular and nationalist terrorist groups, many of which
depended upon active state sponsors. While problems of state
sponsorship of terrorism continue, years of sustained counterterrorism
efforts, including diplomatic and economic isolation, have convinced
some governments to curtail or even abandon support for terrorism as a
tool of statecraft. The collapse of the Soviet Union--which provided
critical backing to terrorist groups and certain state sponsors--
accelerated the decline in state sponsorship. Many terrorist
organizations were effectively destroyed or neutralized, including the
Red Army Faction, Direct Action, and Communist Combatant Cells in
Europe, and the Japanese Red Army in Asia. Such past successes provide
valuable lessons for the future.
With the end of the Cold War, we also saw dramatic improvements in the
ease of transnational communication, commerce, and travel.
Unfortunately, the terrorists adapted to this new international
environment and turned the advances of the 20th century into the
destructive enablers of the 21st century.
+A New Global Environment+
Al-Qaida exemplifies how terrorist networks have twisted the benefits
and conveniences of our increasingly open, integrated, and modernized
world to serve their destructive agenda. The al-Qaida network is a
multinational enterprise with operations in more than 60 countries. Its
camps in Afghanistan provided sanctuary and its bank accounts served as
a trust fund for terrorism. Its global activities are coordinated
through the use of personal couriers and communication technologies
emblematic of our era--cellular and satellite phones, encrypted e-mail,
internet chat rooms, videotape, and CD-roms. Like a skilled publicist,
Usama bin Laden and al-Qaida have exploited the international media to
project his image and message worldwide.
Members of al-Qaida have traveled from continent to continent with the
ease of a vacationer or business traveler. Despite our coalition's
successes in Afghanistan and around the world, some al-Qaida operatives
have escaped to plan additional terrorist attacks. In an age marked by
unprecedented mobility and migration, they readily blend into
communities wherever they move.
They pay their way with funds raised through front businesses, drug
trafficking, credit card fraud, extortion, and money from covert
supporters. They use ostensibly charitable organizations and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for funding and recruitment.
Money for their operations is transferred surreptitiously through
numerous banks, money exchanges, and alternate remittance systems
(often known as "hawalas")--some legitimate and unwitting, others not.
These terrorists are also transnational in another, more fundamental
way--their victims. The September 11 attacks murdered citizens from
Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Germany, India,
Israel, Jordan, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland,
Turkey, the United Kingdom and scores of other countries.
As the al-Qaida network demonstrates, the terrorist threat today is
mutating into something quite different from its predecessors.
Terrorists can now use the advantage of technology to disperse
leadership, training, and logistics not just regionally but globally.
Establishing and moving cells in virtually any country is relatively
easy in a world where more than 140 million people live outside of
their country of origin and millions of people cross international
borders every day.
Furthermore, terrorist groups have become increasingly self-sufficient
by exploiting the global environment to support their operations.
Whether it is the FARC's involvement in the cocaine trade in Colombia,
al-Qaida's profiting from the poppy fields in Afghanistan, or Abu
Sayyaf's kidnapping for profit in the Philippines, terrorists are
increasingly using criminal activities to support and fund their
terror. In addition to finding sanctuary within the boundaries of a
state sponsor, terrorists often seek out states where they can operate
with impunity because the central government is unable to stop them.
Such areas are found in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa,
and Asia. More audaciously, foreign terrorists also establish cells in
the very open, liberal, and tolerant societies that they plan to attack.
+Interconnected Terrorist Organizations+
The terrorist threat is a flexible, transnational network structure,
enabled by modern technology and characterized by loose
interconnectivity both within and between groups. In this environment,
terrorists work together in funding, sharing intelligence, training,
logistics, planning, and executing attacks. Terrorist groups with
objectives in one country or region can draw strength and support from
groups in other countries or regions. For example, in 2001, three
members of the Irish Republican Army were arrested in Colombia,
suspected of training the FARC in how to conduct an urban bombing
campaign. The connections between al-Qaida and terrorist groups
throughout Southeast Asia further highlight this reality. The terrorist
threat today is both resilient and diffuse because of this mutually
reinforcing, dynamic network structure.
_Figure 2_ is representative of how terrorists and terrorist
organizations operate on three levels. At the first level are those
terrorist organizations that operate primarily within a single country.
Their reach is limited, but in this global environment their actions
can have international consequences. Such state-level groups may expand
geographically if their ambitions and capabilities are allowed to grow
unchecked.
At the next level are terrorist organizations that operate regionally.
These regional operations transcend at least one international boundary.
Terrorist organizations with global reach comprise the third category.
Their operations span several regions and their ambitions can be
transnational and even global.
[Illustration: _Figure 2_: Transnational Terrorist Networks]
These three types of organizations are linked together in two ways.
First, they can cooperate directly by sharing intelligence, personnel,
expertise, resources, and safe havens. Second, they can support each
other in less direct ways, such as by promoting the same ideological
agenda and reinforcing each other's efforts to cultivate a favorable
international image for their "cause." By capitalizing on the very
technological advances that we use within our country, terrorist
organizations learn and share information garnered from our web sites,
exploit vulnerabilities within our critical infrastructure, and
communicate across the same internet paths we use each day. The
interconnected nature of terrorist organizations necessitates that we
pursue them across the geographic spectrum to ensure that all linkages
between the strong and the weak organizations are broken, leaving each
of them isolated, exposed, and vulnerable to defeat.
+Availability of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)+
Weapons of mass destruction pose a direct and serious threat to the
United States and the entire international community. The probability
of a terrorist organization using a chemical, biological, radiological,
or nuclear weapon, or high-yield explosives, has increased
significantly during the past decade. The availability of critical
technologies, the willingness of some scientists and others to
cooperate with terrorists, and the ease of intercontinental
transportation enable terrorist organizations to more easily acquire,
manufacture, deploy, and initiate a WMD attack either on U.S. soil or
abroad.
While new instruments of terror such as cyber attacks are on the rise,
and other conventional instruments of terror have not diminished, the
availability and potential use of a WMD is in a category by itself.
We know that some terrorist organizations have sought to develop the
capability to use WMD to attack the United States and our friends and
allies. Motivated by extreme, even apocalyptic ideologies, some
terrorists' ambitions to inflict mayhem seem unlimited. The Aum
Shinrikyo's unsuccessful efforts to deploy biological weapons and its
lethal 1995 sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway provided an early
warning of such willingness to acquire and use WMD. In 1998, Usama bin
Laden proclaimed the acquisition of WMD a "religious duty," and
evidence collected in Afghanistan proves al-Qaida sought to fulfill
this "duty." The threat of terrorists acquiring and using WMD is a
clear and present danger. A central goal must be to prevent terrorists
from acquiring or manufacturing the WMD that would enable them to act
on their worst ambitions.
+Summary+
While terrorism is not new, today's terrorist threat is different from
that of the past. Modern technology has enabled terrorists to plan and
operate worldwide as never before. With advanced telecommunications
they can coordinate their actions among dispersed cells while remaining
in the shadows. Today's terrorists increasingly enjoy a
force-multiplier effect by establishing links with other like-minded
organizations around the globe. Now, with a WMD capability, they have
the potential to magnify the effects of their actions many fold. The
new global environment, with its resultant terrorist interconnectivity,
and WMD are changing the nature of terrorism. Our strategy's
effectiveness ultimately depends upon how well we address these key
facets of the terrorist threat.
STRATEGIC INTENT
"_We must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans
and confront the worst threats before they emerge.
In the world we have entered, the only path to safety is
the path of action. And this nation will act._"
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
JUNE 1, 2002
The intent of our national strategy is to stop terrorist attacks
against the United States, its citizens, its interests, and our friends
and allies around the world and ultimately, to create an international
environment inhospitable to terrorists and all those who support them.
To accomplish these tasks we will simultaneously act on four fronts.
The United States and its partners will _defeat_ terrorist
organizations of global reach by attacking their sanctuaries;
leadership; command, control, and communications; material support; and
finances. This approach will have a cascading effect across the larger
terrorist landscape, disrupting the terrorists' ability to plan and
operate. As a result, it will force these organizations to disperse and
then attempt to reconsolidate along regional lines to improve their
communications and cooperation.
As this dispersion and organizational degradation occurs, we will work
with regional partners to implement a coordinated effort to squeeze,
tighten, and isolate the terrorists. Once the regional campaign has
localized the threat, we will help states develop the military, law
enforcement, political, and financial tools necessary to finish the
task (_figure 3_). However, this campaign need not be sequential to be
effective; the cumulative effect across all geographic regions will
help achieve the results we seek.
We will _deny_ further sponsorship, support, and sanctuary to
terrorists by ensuring other states accept their responsibilities to
take action against these international threats within their sovereign
territory. UNSCR 1373 and the 12 UN counterterrorism conventions and
protocols establish high standards that we and our international
partners expect others to meet in deed as well as word.
Where states are willing and able, we will reinvigorate old
partnerships and forge new ones to combat terrorism and coordinate our
actions to ensure that they are mutually reinforcing and cumulative.
Where states are weak but willing, we will support them vigorously in
their efforts to build the institutions and capabilities needed to
exercise authority over all their territory and fight terrorism where
it exists.
Where states are reluctant, we will work with our partners to convince
them to change course and meet their international obligations.
Where states are unwilling, we will act decisively to counter the
threat they pose and, ultimately, to compel them to cease supporting
terrorism.
We will _diminish_ the underlying conditions that terrorist seek to
exploit by enlisting the international community to focus its efforts
and resources on the areas most at risk. We will maintain the momentum
generated in response to the September 11 attacks by working with our
partners abroad and various international forums to keep combating
terrorism at the forefront of the international agenda.
Most importantly, we will _defend_ the United States, our citizens, and
our interests at home and abroad by both proactively protecting our
homeland and extending our defenses to ensure we identify and
neutralize the threat as early as possible.
+Victory in the War Against Terror+
Victory against terrorism will not occur as a single, defining moment.
It will not be marked by the likes of the surrender ceremony on the
deck of the USS Missouri that ended World War II. However, through the
sustained effort to compress the scope and capability of terrorist
organizations, isolate them regionally, and destroy them within state
borders, the United States and its friends and allies will secure a
world in which our children can live free from fear and where the
threat of terrorist attacks does not define our daily lives.
Victory, therefore, will be secured only as long as the United States
and the international community maintain their vigilance and work
tirelessly to prevent terrorists from inflicting horrors like those of
September 11, 2001.
[Illustration: _Figure 3_: Operationalizing the Strategy]
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
"_America is no longer protected by vast oceans.
We are protected from attack only by vigorous action abroad,
and increased vigilance at home._"
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
JANUARY 29, 2002
+_Goal_: Defeat Terrorists and Their Organizations+
The first tenet of the 4D strategy (Defeat, Deny, Diminish and Defend)
calls for defeating terrorist organizations of global reach through the
direct or indirect use of diplomatic, economic, information, law
enforcement, military, financial, intelligence, and other instruments
of power. The evolution of terrorist organizations into loose, flexible
networks with small, informal groups compounds the challenges of
combating them. The United States will use all its resources, including
the ability to marshal and sustain international coalitions, to defeat
networks and prevent the growth of new organizations. The United States
and its partners will target the individuals, state sponsors, and
transnational networks that enable terrorism to flourish.
An analysis of the history of combating terrorism confirms that the
best way to defeat terrorism is to isolate and localize its activities
and then destroy it through intensive, sustained action. Political
pressures and economic sanctions have moderated some state sponsors,
but have had little effect on individual groups that can sustain an
independent presence. However, due to the broad expanse and
sophistication of some of these global terrorist organizations, we must
first act to reduce their scope and capability. This effort requires us
to identify the terrorists, locate their sanctuaries, and destroy their
ability to plan and operate.
We cannot wait for terrorists to attack and then respond. The United
States and its partners will disrupt and degrade the ability of
terrorists to act, and compel supporters of terrorism to cease and
desist. Preventing terrorist groups from gaining access to technology,
particularly that which supports WMD, will be one of our highest
priorities.
_Objective: Identify terrorists and terrorist organizations_. "Know
your enemy" is one of the most accepted maxims in warfare.
Unfortunately, our knowledge of the inner workings of some terrorist
organizations remains incomplete. The Intelligence Community and law
enforcement agencies will therefore continue their aggressive efforts
to identify terrorists and their organizations, map their command and
control and support infrastructure, and then ensure we have broad, but
appropriate, distribution of the intelligence to federal, state, and
local agencies as well as to our international allies. While we will
not ignore regional or emerging threats, our operational efforts and
intelligence will focus primarily upon the most dangerous groups,
namely, those with global reach or aspirations to acquire and use WMD.
We will prioritize our efforts based on the immediate threat and our
national interests. Based on this prioritization and mapping of
terrorist organizations, we will determine where to position forces and
collection assets to identify terrorist ground, air, maritime, and
cyber activities. Timely and advantageous positioning of these assets
will be crucial for obtaining intelligence and developing options for
decisive action.
A key component of this force and asset alignment will be our ability
to understand the terrorist intent through technical and document
exploitation. This will require a dramatic increase in linguistic
support. Consequently, all government agencies will review their
language programs to ensure adequate resources are available to meet
this demand.
The Intelligence Community will continue to enhance its collection on
terrorist WMD capabilities, including bioterrorism threats against
agriculture and the food supply.
_Objective: Locate terrorists and their organizations_. The shadowy
nature of terrorist organizations precludes an easy analysis of their
capabilities or intent. The classic net assessment of the enemy based
on the number of tanks, airplanes, or ships does not apply to these
non-state actors. For intelligence to succeed in this war on terrorism,
the United States must not only rely on technical intelligence, but
renew its emphasis on other types of intelligence needed to get inside
the organizations, locate their sanctuaries, and disrupt their plans
and operations.
The Intelligence Community will review its current capability to gather
human and technical intelligence on terrorist organizations and make
recommendations, as necessary, to expand its recruitment, training, and
operations. The Intelligence Community will continue its comprehensive
effort to acquire new reporting sources, then use those sources to
penetrate designated terrorist organizations to provide information on
leadership, plans, intentions, modus operandi, finances,
communications, and recruitment. The law enforcement community, using
the leverage provided by our criminal justice system, will continue its
efforts to identify and locate terrorist organizations operating at
home and abroad.
Our regional partners are often better poised than the United States to
gain access to information and intelligence. Therefore, the
intelligence and law enforcement communities will continue to expand
and improve their relations with their foreign counterparts in an
effort to take better advantage of their source reporting.
_Objective: Destroy terrorists and their organizations_. Once we have
identified and located the terrorists, the United States and its
friends and allies will use every tool available to disrupt, dismantle,
and destroy their capacity to conduct acts of terror. The final element
to the Defeat goal is an aggressive, offensive strategy to eliminate
capabilities that allow terrorists to exist and operate--attacking
their sanctuaries; leadership; command, control, and communications;
material support; and finances.
While divulging the details of this aspect of the strategy would be
imprudent, we will focus our efforts on three pillars. First, we will
expand our law enforcement effort to capture, detain, and prosecute
known and suspected terrorists. Second, America will focus decisive
military power and specialized intelligence resources to defeat
terrorist networks globally. Finally, with the cooperation of its
partners and appropriate international organizations, we will continue
our aggressive plan to eliminate the sources of terrorist financing.
To synchronize this effort, the Department of State will take the lead
in developing specific regional strategies for the defeat of terrorism.
We will further leverage regional relationships, by ensuring
appropriate allied participation with the regional Combatant Commanders
as they prosecute the war on terrorism.
+_Goal_: Deny Sponsorship, Support, and Sanctuary to Terrorists+
The National Strategy's second front stresses denying terrorists the
sponsorship, support, and sanctuary that enable them to exist, gain
strength, train, plan, and execute their attacks. The United States has
a long memory and is committed to holding terrorists and those who
harbor them accountable for past crimes. The states that choose to
harbor terrorists are like accomplices who provide shelter for
criminals. They will be held accountable for the actions of their
"guests."
The strategy to deny sponsorship, support, and sanctuary is three-fold.
First, it focuses on the responsibilities of all states to fulfill
their obligations to combat terrorism both within their borders and
internationally. Second, it helps target U.S. assistance to those
states who are willing to combat terrorism, but may not have the means.
And finally, when states prove reluctant or unwilling to meet their
international obligations to deny support and sanctuary to terrorists,
the United States, in cooperation with friends and allies, or if
necessary, acting independently, will take appropriate steps to
convince them to change their policies.
The goal of this front is to choke off the lifeblood of terrorist
groups--their access to territory, funds, equipment, training,
technology, and unimpeded transit. This approach will therefore weaken
terrorist organizations and their ability to conduct operations. Of
particular importance is working to prevent terrorists from acquiring
the capability to use chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear
weapons, or high-yield explosives.
Non-state actors play an important role in the international
environment. Nongovernmental organizations are important in combating
international terrorism and we will work with them to prevent
terrorists from taking advantage of their services.
_Objective: End the state sponsorship of terrorism_. The United States
will assume a clear and pragmatic approach in prosecuting the campaign
against terrorism. This will include incentives for ending state
sponsorship. When a state chooses not to respond to such incentives,
tough decisions will be confronted. At all times within this new
dynamic we will balance a nation's near-term actions against the
long-term implications and consequences.
The United States currently lists seven state sponsors of terrorism:
Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Cuba, North Korea, and Sudan. We are firmly
committed to removing countries from the list once they have taken the
necessary steps under our law and policy. A checkered past does not
foreclose future membership in the coalition against terrorism.
It is important for all countries to adopt a "zero tolerance" policy
for terrorist activity within their borders. In the new global
environment it is also important for states to understand how
terrorists and their supporters may use legitimate means of
communication, commerce, and transportation for illegal activities.
Each state that gets out of the business of sponsoring terrorism
represents a significant step forward and offers a tangible measure of
success. America will never seek to remove states from the sponsorship
list by lowering the bar; instead, these states should be
encouraged--or compelled--to clear the bar.
We will not have a single, inflexible approach to handling the
recognized state sponsors of terrorism. Each case is unique, with
different interests and legacy issues involved. Each situation demands
specifically tailored policies.
We will be open to overtures from states that want to put their
sponsorship of terrorism behind them, but we will not compromise on the
essential principle that there are no "good" or "just" terrorists. We
will be relentless in discrediting terrorism as a legitimate means of
expressing discontent.
To ensure we have a well orchestrated and synchronized policy, the
Department of State will take the lead in developing policy action
plans that employ both incentives and disincentives to end state
sponsorship of terrorism. All appropriate departments and agencies will
engage key allies to develop common or complementary strategies to
support the above plans. So that no state miscalculates U.S. resolve,
we will articulate these policy goals through appropriate public and
diplomatic channels.
_Objective: Establish and maintain an international standard of
accountability with regard to combating terrorism_. In addition to U.S.
pressure to end state sponsorship, we will strongly support new, strict
standards for all states to meet in the global war against terrorism.
States that have sovereign rights also have sovereign responsibilities.
UNSCR 1373 clearly establishes states' obligations for combating
terrorism.
This resolution calls upon all member states to cooperate to prevent
terrorist attacks through a spectrum of activities, including
suppressing and freezing terrorist financing, prohibiting their
nationals from financially supporting terrorists, denying safe haven,
and taking steps to prevent the movement of terrorists. Additionally,
the 12 international counterterrorism conventions and protocols,
together with UNSCR 1373, set forth a compelling body of international
obligations relating to counterterrorism. We will continue to press all
states to become parties to and fully implement these conventions and
protocols.
Together, UNSCR 1373, the international counterterrorism conventions
and protocols, and the inherent right under international law of
individual and collective self-defense confirm the legitimacy of the
international community's campaign to eradicate terrorism. We will use
UNSCR 1373 and the international counterterrorism conventions and
protocols to galvanize international cooperation and to rally support
for holding accountable those states that do not meet their
international responsibilities.
This baseline level of commitment has four other basic advantages.
First, it reaffirms the primacy of local efforts--the vital principle
that each nation bears primary responsibility for fighting terrorism
within its territory. Second, it provides an internationally recognized
baseline against which the efforts of all nations--including the United
States--can be evaluated. Third, this foundation does not prevent the
formation of coalitions of willing nations for special tasks above and
beyond the requirements of UNSCR 1373 and the international
counterterrorism conventions and protocols. Fourth, the United States
remains free to emphasize reciprocity in its counterterrorism policies.
While we will always meet our baseline responsibilities, U.S. efforts
can prioritize support to our allies, protect vital interests, and
assist those international partners who prove themselves most willing
to cooperate in the campaign against terror.
The steady increase in the number of countries that are fully
implementing UNSCR 1373 will thus provide a tangible measure of
progress in the years ahead.
Additionally, we will encourage international, regional, and
subregional organizations to call upon their members to adopt and fully
implement the counterterrorist conventions, protocols, and UNSCR 1373,
and subsequently we will support them in their effort. To help ensure
compliance and maintain oversight, the U.S. Government will support the
establishment of a comprehensive plan to monitor and, when appropriate,
publicize nations' counterterrorist activities.
To maintain the momentum since September 11 and keep the global war on
terrorism in the forefront, all departments and agencies of the U.S.
Government will promote combating terrorism as a standard agenda item
for their bilateral and multilateral discussions.
_Objective: Strengthen and sustain the international effort to fight
terrorism_. Defeating terrorism is our nation's primary and immediate
priority. It is "our calling," as President Bush has said. But it is
not our challenge alone. Unlike the Cold War, where two opposing camps
led by superpower states vied for power, we are now engaged in a war
between the civilized world and those that would destroy it. Success
will not come by always acting alone, but through a powerful coalition
of nations maintaining a strong, united international front against
terrorism.
+Working with Willing and Able States+: An essential element of our
strategy remains working with others to reorient existing partnerships
and create new mechanisms for cooperation among the willing and able
states around the world. No support will be more important to success
than that from the other nations that have the will and resources to
combat terrorism with us at the state, regional, and even global level.
In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks we have reaped the rewards
of the investments made in our major alliances during the past 50
years. These rewards are evident in NATO's unprecedented invocation of
Article V of the NATO Treaty, Australia's invocation of Article IV of
the ANZUS Treaty, and in the way both our NATO and ANZUS allies have
matched words with deeds on every front in the war against terrorism.
Military forces representing a broad coalition of countries from North
America, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania have participated in vital
operations in Afghanistan. Japan has also provided historic support to
the campaign against terrorism. Our Western Hemispheric neighbors
invoked the Rio Treaty and have shown a commitment to combat terrorism
through a new Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism adopted in
June 2002. But these alliances cannot be taken for granted or remain
static. We will strive to help them evolve to meet the demands of this
new era.
At the same time, through our common efforts against terrorism, we are
recasting our relations with Russia, China, Pakistan, and India. The
cooperation forged with these countries in the war on terrorism
highlights how our future relations need not be constrained by past
differences.
Ensuring that the current level of international cooperation is a
lasting feature of our world will be a defining challenge of this era.
+Enabling Weak States+: Some countries are committed to fighting
terrorism but lack the capacity to fulfill their sovereign
responsibilities. Some governments, for example, lack the legal
framework, training, or technical capabilities needed to fight money
laundering. Others do not have the law enforcement, intelligence, or
military capabilities to assert effective control over their entire
territory. After September 11, we redoubled our efforts to develop
programs that help them to acquire the necessary capabilities to fight
terrorism through a variety of means, including improved legislation,
technical assistance, new investigative techniques, intelligence
sharing, and law enforcement and military training. For example, we are
stepping up our efforts in the Balkans to help governments secure their
borders and refocusing our assistance to place increased priority on
efforts to promote the rule of law. We are helping the Armed Forces of
the Philippines to build their capacity to fight terrorism through a
robust training and professional education program.
The United States will continue to develop comprehensive plans to build
strong and agile partnerships, particularly in regions that
historically have been difficult to engage. We will work together to
develop programs to train foreign governments in tactics, techniques,
and procedures to combat terrorism. We will review funding for
international counterterrorism training and assistance programs and
ensure adequate resources are available to strengthen the capabilities
of key states.
We will continue to negotiate extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance
Treaties (MLATs) and expand the international coalition that supports
the war on terrorism. We will conduct an extensive review to determine
the viability of establishing new institutions that may help combat
terrorism. And at every opportunity we will continue to enhance
international counterterrorism cooperation through the further
expansion and sharing of intelligence and law enforcement information.
While focusing on terrorism, this effort will strengthen our strategic
alignments and transform the international environment.
+Persuading Reluctant States+: In waging the campaign against
terrorism, the United States will also confront difficult cases
involving countries that, although capable, prove reluctant to comply
with their responsibilities in the fight against terror. Some countries
will cooperate on some fronts but not others. This unwillingness can
spring from many sources, such as external threats, internal schisms
that enable one faction to use the state to extend tacit or active
support to terrorists, or cultural or political differences that lead
to disagreements over what constitutes "terrorist" or criminal activity.
These cases will be the most delicate. The United States recognizes
that some governments might place themselves in the crosshairs--and not
just figuratively--by joining the war against terrorism. Therefore,
constructive engagement, with sustained diplomacy and targeted
assistance will be used to persuade these regimes to become more
willing and, eventually able, to meet their international obligations
to combat terrorism.
+Compelling Unwilling States+: The unwilling states are those that
sponsor or actively provide sanctuary to terrorists. Those states that
continue to sponsor terrorist organizations will be held accountable
for their actions.
_Objective: Interdict and disrupt material support for terrorists_. A
key component of any nation's sovereignty is control of its borders.
Every nation bears responsibility for the people and goods transiting
its borders.
While we expect states to fulfill their obligations, we will
nevertheless be prepared to interdict terrorist ground, air, maritime,
and cyber traffic by positioning forces and assets to deny terrorists
access to new recruits, financing, equipment, arms, and information. As
part of this undertaking, our National Strategy to Combat Weapons of
Mass Destruction addresses the most serious of these threats and
outlines plans and policies to execute timely, effective interdiction
efforts against WMD-related materials, technologies, and expertise.
Some irresponsible governments--or extremist factions within
them--seeking to further their own agenda may provide terrorists access
to WMD. Such actions would be unacceptable to the United States. We are
prepared to act decisively to stop terrorists from acquiring WMD or
precursors.
Interdiction, whether against terrorist material support or WMD, will
be carefully coordinated to ensure prioritization of intelligence,
proper allocation of resources, and, when necessary, swift, decisive
action. We will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes and
terrorists to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons.