Previous IFPA-Fletcher Conferences

National Security Strategy and Policy:
Planning for and Responding to Threats to the U.S. Homeland

October 28-29, 2004
Ronald Reagan Building
and International Trade Center
Washington, D.C.

The Honorable Frances Fragos Townsend
Assistant to the President for Homeland Security

Luncheon Address 
Protecting the Homeland: Progress at Home and Abroad

Introduction By: Dr. Robert L . Pfaltzgraff, Jr.

The Honorable Frances Fragos Townsend: Thank you, Dr. Pfaltzgraff, for that kind introduction. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, I am delighted to speak with you today. IFPA is an important independent voice in the development and the evaluation of policy and strategy options for consideration within the government and private sector circles. In association with the Fletcher School, Dr. Pfaltzgraff and the IFPA continue to promote a critical dialogue on the vital challenges that we confront in the 21st century. I am pleased to participate today in your conference.

I'd also like to, before I begin the body of my remarks, recognize the co-sponsors of this event, US Northern Command, the Office of Homeland Defense at DoD, Defense Threat Reduction Agency. I work closely with my colleagues in these organizations, and it’s a pleasure to see their leaders here today. It continues to be my privilege to serve with you and all the members of the country’s homeland and national security team.

The conference panels are examining in greater detail the challenges of critical infrastructure protection, bioterrorism, maritime, aviation and border security, and emerging technologies, among other issues. So today, I intend to focus on the broader strategic context and the President’s path to victory in the war on terror and protecting the homeland.

Three of the important strategic objectives in the war on terror that I’ll speak about today are defeating terrorists and their networks, both at home and abroad; working with partners to isolate terrorists and outlaw regimes while supporting the rise of democracy; and transforming the federal government to fight terrorism more effectively for the long haul.

Immediately after September 11, President Bush said, and I quote, “In our grief and anger we found our mission and our moment. Our nation, this generation, will lift the dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts and by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.”

The President’s words clearly set our resolve and his leadership, rallied a grieving nation and a shaken world. His chosen path to ultimate victory became clear. We would first and foremost defend the peace by taking the fight to the enemy around the world. Second, we would protect the peace by working with our allies to confront terrorism while securing the American homeland. And finally, we would extend the peace by supporting the rise of democracy as an alternative to hatred and terror.

The President’s strategy for confronting the terrorist threat was a sea change in American policy. For years, terrorists had attacked the United States with relative impunity. First, there was the ’93 World Trade Center bombing; then came the ’96 bombing of Khobar Towers; 1998, the East African Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania; and in 2000, the USS Cole bombing.

Unlike in the past, today we effectively marshal all instruments of national power -- military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic and law enforcement -- to win the war on terrorism. We are taking the offensive to the terrorists aboard and taking unprecedented measures to protect the American people at home.

Since the attacks on the homeland over three years ago, the United States, in close concert with our Coalition partners, has waged an unremitting war against al-Qaeda, its associates and supporters and the deadly scourge of terrorism more broadly. We are on the offensive taking the fight to the enemy, wherever he may hide in a campaign of direct and continuous action that has disrupted, degraded, and will ultimately defeat terrorists and their networks.

We are defeating the enemy overseas so that we do not face them at our shores. In confronting threats and preempting acts of terror before they emerge, our successes and those of our allies continue to accumulate on a number of fronts. Of the senior al-Qaeda leaders, operational managers and key facilitators that we have been tracking since 9/11, three-quarters have been taken into custody or killed. Although the group still plots against us, and remains a serious threat, our resolute action and that of our partners around the world has weakened their leadership and diminished their capability.

We are cutting off terrorists’ access to funds by freezing assets, denying terrorists access to the international financial system, protecting legitimate charities from terrorists’ abuse, and preventing the movement of monies through alternative financial networks. The United States has designated 387 entities as terrorists or supporters of designated terrorists, frozen nearly 142 million in terrorist-related assets. More than 37 million has been frozen in the United States. The US government has identified and frozen over 4.5 million in al-Qaeda-related funds. In addition, almost 72 million has been frozen by other governments worldwide.

We continue to choke the lifeblood of terrorists by contracting the space in which the enemy can operate and transit freely. Three years ago, Afghanistan, with its ruling backward and brutal Taliban regime was a sanctuary for al-Qaeda. Today, terror camps are closed, the remaining al-Qaeda leadership is hiding or on the run, and the Afghan government is a committed partner in the war on terror, with Afghan troops helping us to hunt down remaining Taliban and terrorist elements in remote regions.

Three years ago, the ruler of Iraq was a sworn enemy of America, who provided a haven for terrorists, had used weapons of mass destruction, and turned his country into a prison. Through the valiant efforts of the United States military and our Coalition partners in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the United States and its partners defeated Hussein’s regime, eliminating a state sponsor of international terrorism. Today, the man who harbored terrorists such as Abu Nidal and Abu Abbas is finally before the bar of justice.

While terrorists are attempting to reclaim Iraqi land for tyranny, Iraqi security forces are bravely fighting alongside Coalition partners to defeat the enemies of freedom. Today, in Afghanistan and Iraq, we have liberated more than 50 million people. In Afghanistan, where women were denied basic civil rights, including education, and had been subject to public beatings, young girls are attending school. Two Cabinet Ministers are women, and 41% of the 10 million registered voters in this month’s democratic elections in Afghanistan are women. In fact, by press reports, the first ballot cast in those democratic elections was cast by a woman.

Iraq is now an independent and sovereign country, and will hold free and democratic elections in January. Another important measure of our progress in Iraq, the 2002 Saddam regime spent $16 million on healthcare. Today under Prime Minister Allawi, Iraq’s Ministry of Health budget is $950 million.

But there is more. Pakistan, once one of the few countries in the world that recognized the Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan, and a land where al-Qaeda was achieve and recruiting within its borders without serious opposition, now Pakistan is one of our most important partners in the global war on terror. Pakistan has taken hundreds of extremists into custody, including Taliban and al-Qaeda members, among them most notably Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the operational planner behind the 9/11 attacks. Pakistan’s security components, military intelligence and law enforcement continue to cooperate with the United States to disrupt terrorism both within their borders and outside.

Saudi Arabia . Three years ago, terrorists were well established in Saudi Arabia. Inside that country, fundraisers and other facilitators gave al-Qaeda financial and logistical help with little scrutiny or opposition. Today, after numerous attacks in the Kingdom, Saudi leadership and the Saudi people know that al-Qaeda is as much their enemy as it is ours. The Saudi government has aggressively attacked al-Qaeda’s network in the Kingdom and captured or killed more than 600 individuals involved in al-Qaeda’s finance, logistics and operational planning. The Saudis have seized tons of explosive material, nearly a dozen vehicle bombs and hundreds of assault rifles and RPGs.

Libya , a long-time supporter of terror, was spending millions of dollars to acquire chemical and nuclear weapons three years ago. Today, thousands of Libya’s chemical munitions have been destroyed and equipment to produce nuclear materials that could ultimately have threatened the lives of hundreds of thousands is stored in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. When the civilized world demonstrated its determination and resolve, the Libyan government correctly judged its own interest and, as a result, we are all safer.

Three years ago, a private weapons proliferation network operated by Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan was selling nuclear plans and equipment to countries like Libya, Iran and North Korea. Today, the A.Q. Khan network has been exposed and we have ended one of the most dangerous sources of proliferation in the world.

The actions I've outlined above -- attacking our enemies’ leadership, operators and facilitators, eradicating their sources of funding, disrupting their material support and contracting the space where they can operate and transit freely -- are all offensive strategies executed for defensive purposes; that is, to ensure the safety and security of the homeland and the American people.

But we play offense here at home, too. Indeed, defending the homeland is not just about playing defense. Taking the fight to an enemy that exploits our open society, hides among us, and tries to attack us from within is vitally important to protecting our fellow citizens, our critical infrastructure and, yes, our way of life.

Judiciously using the new tools provided by the Patriot Act, we have broken up terror cells inside our own country, in Portland, Oregon and Northern Virginia, New York, and elsewhere. We have seized the millions in terrorist finances here at home, and we have taken steps to disrupt potential terrorist activities in the homeland and make it much more difficult for them to complete their missions.

As we continue our campaign to defeat terrorists and their networks at home and abroad, we will face significant challenges from our adversary. Indeed, this adaptive threat will continue to evolve, seeking to combine operational and technological innovation and surprise us with its evil, cowardly, apocalyptic visions. We will have to be equally innovative and vigilant; indeed, more so, for it is often said that our enemy only has to get it right once, and we must get it right every day.

As you know, we alerted the financial sectors in New York, New Jersey and Washington, DC this August to a potential terrorist threat based on several streams of reporting. These are not the politics of fear. We are, in fact, at war. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 were acts of war against the United States, its allies, and the very idea of a civilized society. However, as 9/11 becomes an increasingly distant and tragic memory, and we have more success in disrupting terrorist plots, some may forget the nature of the deadly enemy we face and the importance of sustained vigilance and action.

It is important to remember what the enemy has said and what it has done. This is an enemy that mercilessly applauds and encourages the killing of innocents. We have witnessed their cowardly acts in Bali, Istanbul, Riyadh, Madrid and, most recently, in Egypt, beheadings in Baghdad and the slaughter of children in Beslan. We are constantly reminded on the nightly news of our enemies’ intentions to do us harm here at home, and there must be no doubt that we are at war with one of the most evil enemies we have ever known.

The intent of the President’s national strategy for combating terrorism is two-fold. It is to stop terrorist attacks against the United States, its citizens, its interests and our friends and allies around the world. The actions I have just discussed, defeating terrorists and their networks at home and aboard, is central to that goal. But ultimately, our intent is to create an international environment that is inhospitable to terrorists and all those who support them. We need our partners and our allies to succeed.

There are 64 nations assisting CENTCOM at their Tampa headquarters. All 26 NATO allies have troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, or both. Fourteen nations, in addition to the United States, have suffered casualties in Iraq. And, as we know, regrettably, Iraqis themselves are suffering from the insurgents’ terrorist tactics. Indeed, while we continue to work closely with our allies to defeat extremists who intend us harm, triumph will occur only when the conditions that promote hatred, despair and destructive visions, conditions that terrorists seek to exploit, are supplanted by the hopes and aspirations of freedom.

In his first State of the Union in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the President articulated his ultimate intent. He noted, “We have a greater objective than eliminating threats and containing resentment. We seek a just and peaceful world beyond the war on terror.” We are working to extend the peace by supporting the rise of democracy and hope as the alternative to hatred and terror. As touched on earlier, these efforts are most evident in Afghanistan and Iraq. The election in Afghanistan a few weeks ago was a watershed event. Kabul has thrown off the yoke of the repressive Taliban regime and is building a democracy that acknowledges the central role of Islam in the lives of its citizens. This is a defeat for terrorists.

Liberty and freedom are finding their way in Iraq as well. Free and fair elections will be held as scheduled this January in the newly liberated country, and the Iraqi people are determined to move steadily towards democracy. Terrorists are working as we speak to disrupt this progress, and I believe we can expect increasing violence from those who would fight freedom. But these so-called insurgents have nothing to offer but death and destruction, and ordinary Iraqis are determined to build a different and brighter future. The terrorists must never win in Iraq, and they will not.

I would also note that a quiet rise of democracy’s tide has been happening in Indonesia. Over the last few months, the world’s fourth-largest country and the nation with the largest Muslim population peacefully and democratically transferred power in elections deemed free and fair. Indonesia has suffered attacks on its soil and faces an ongoing terrorist threat from a group with national and international ambitions. But Indonesians have chosen freedom and democracy.

As we extend the peace, we further strengthen the powerful coalition maintaining a united front against terror. The tide of democracy in lands far from our shores where men and women renounce brute force and seek to build a better life ultimately renders America and its citizens safer.

Underpinning our defeat of terrorist networks and support for democracy is the sweeping transformation undertaken of the federal government. Just as the United States mobilized itself in the late 1940s when it faced a changing and increasingly hostile security environment, we are creating an enduring institutional platform that will allow us to fight terrorism on a protracted basis. Our changes include new government architecture and a greater long-term investment.

We have a Department of Homeland Security now, a single federal department charged with leading a unified national effort to secure the United States. It enjoys nearly triple funding over 2001 levels. The Administration has likewise allocated $13 billion to help state and local governments better prepare for terrorism.

At the Homeland Security Council, which I currently chair, I coordinate homeland security policy across multiple departments and agencies involved in the homeland security mission. US Northern Command provides an integrated homeland defense and coordinated DoD support to federal, state and local civilian governments.

We now have a multilayered approach to aviation security that goes from curb to cockpit. We have increased border security by adding 1,000 agents along the southwest border and deploying US Visit, a biometric exit-and-entry system, around the country. And there’s the Terrorist Screening Center, established to consolidate our terror watch list and ensure investigators, screeners and agents all around this country at the federal, state and local level are working with the same information that will allow them to act quickly when a suspected terrorist is screened or stopped.

We have increased port and cargo security by funding 13 Coast Guard maritime safety and security teams by implementing the Maritime Transportation Security Act, and by using the Department of Homeland Security’s National Targeting Center to screen data on 100% of all cargo entering the US before it arrives. In addition, through the Container Security Initiative, we now have 17 Customs employees at major international ports to prescreen inbound containers to the United States with additional ports being added over the next two years.

And we are planning and preparing against tomorrow’s threat. Project BioSheild, signed into law by President Bush this summer, provides new tools to improve medical countermeasures to protect our citizens against a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attack. The President has ensured that $5.6 billion is available for the necessary research over the next ten years and that promising treatments are made quickly available in an emergency.

Finally, there has also been an evolution in the nation’s intelligence capability. The President is leading the way on intelligence reform and has already initiated several significant changes to improve collection and analysis, bridge the foreign and domestic intelligence divide, and enhance the sharing of information. Most recently, the President signed Executive Orders giving the Director of Central Intelligence many of the enhanced managerial powers over the intelligence community that will eventually fall to the National Intelligence Director.

By reforming our intelligence community and establishing a National Intelligence Director, we will be better positioned to fight the war on terror over the long term. This restructuring will allow us to more quickly and flexibly apply the capabilities of the US intelligence agencies against our terrorist enemies and other national security threats.

The establishment of a National Counterterrorism Center further institutionalizes the war on terror. It will serve as the intellectual repository on terrorists, their networks, capabilities and intentions, as well as provide strategic operational planning for the US-wide counterterrorism activities that integrate all instruments of national power. The Terrorist Threat Integration Center, which was launched in early 2003, will be the foundation for this newly established Center.

Creating an enduring institutional platform to fight the war on terror over the next decade requires additional innovation beyond government transformation. There are many areas we as a country, not just as a government, should be enhancing to better mobilize for the war on terror. One area I would like to mention is guarding against a resource gap by fostering intellectual and human capital on terrorism and counterterrorism issues. Specific area studies and linguistic programs, similar to those developed to study the Soviet Union during the Cold War, would enhance our knowledge base, and perhaps increase the pool of recruits available for government work, further strengthening our CT foundation and abilities over the long term.

As the President has said, “We have fought terrorists across the earth, not for pride, not for power, but because the lives of our citizens is at stake. We have led, many have joined, and America and the world are safer.” We are in the midst of a war, a lengthy campaign against those who ultimately seek to destroy our freedoms and our way of life. While America is safer, we are not yet safe and challenging times still lie ahead. But in this room today are people who are building a more secure homeland, and I stand with you as we work to achieve our greatest mission -- when Americans and people around the world can live their lives free from fear of terror.

Thank you, Dr. Pfaltzgraff, for having me, God bless. [Applause]