It is a special honor for me to be here this morning because one of your founders has been a hero of mine for years: "Wild Bill" Donovan. As you all know, throughout his long and varied career, Donovan was relentless, selfless, and innovative in the defense of our country as a soldier during the First World War, a lawyer and government official in peacetime, the leader America s first true intelligence organization, the Office of Strategic Services, during the Second World War, and as a diplomat during the Cold War.
Last fall, in the wake of the September 11th attacks, I was reminded unexpectedly
of Donovan s example during the first staff meeting I attended of the State
Department s office for counterterrorism. We gathered in a somewhat cramped
conference room in an annex located across the street from the main State Department
building. A familiar looking portrait graced the wall. Looking closer I noticed
that it was none other than "Wild Bill" himself. When I asked about
it, I learned that we were meeting in the very room that had been Donovan s
office during his OSS days. It was where he had planned how to pierce the Reich
and undermine Japanese rule throughout Asia. There we were discussing the campaign
against the al-Qaida terrorist network. It seemed both fitting and reassuring
that "Wild Bill" was there too,
looking over our shoulders. "Wild Bill" would be just the sort of
man for the frontlines of today s campaign.
In his time, Donovan recognized before most of his contemporaries that the
United States confronted a historic challenge in the fascist, militarist threat
a threat that demanded new ways of doing business, new partnerships at home
and abroad, and new ways of waging war. I think that Donovan would agree that
in "mega" terrorism we once again face such a challenge. And like
the era of the Second World War, how well we respond to this terrorist challenge
will go a long way toward
defining the kind of world you and I, our children and grandchildren, will live
in during the 21st century.
What I d like to offer this morning is an overview of today s unprecedented terrorist threat, our comprehensive approach for our long-term campaign against this foe, and, finally, the challenges we face as we enter the next phase of the war on terrorism.
Terrorism, of course, is not new. The assassination of President McKinley ushered in the last century. And the death this week of the notorious Abu Nidal a predecessor of sorts to Usama bin Laden served as another a reminder of terrorism s long, dark history. Nevertheless, the terrorist threat we all face at the dawn of the 21st century is unprecedented in its scope and danger, demanding a new and unprecedented response. Because of the spread of both globalization and weapons of mass destruction, terrorism has moved to the top of our national security agenda.
"Globalization" is a catchword of sorts to describe the web of connections
be they commercial, communications, or cultural that bind our world together.
Since the end of the Cold War, the spread of open societies and new technologies
has greatly accelerated the pace of globalization. What has this meant for you
and me? How many of you checked out the Legion website in planning your trip?
I received my invitation to speak here this morning by email. For us, globalization
has been mostly positive speedy long-distance travel, the Internet and satellite
TV, goods from around the world conveniently delivered to our doorsteps. But
terrorists like al-Qaida have twisted the benefits of globalization to give
themselves new power and reach. While we use the Internet to plan trips and
communicate, they log on to plan and
coordinate attacks, or send money around the world with the click of a mouse.
In this environment, small cells of terrorists can become true transnational threats wreaking havoc around the world without the need for a state sponsor or single home base. For instance, al-Qaida operates in some 60 or more countries including our own. Terrorists can support themselves through global networks of crime and fundraising among sympathizers. Just this past June, right here in Charlotte, a man was convicted in Federal court of running a cigarette smuggling ring that siphoned off money to the terrorist group Hizballah in Lebanon. As September 11th taught us all too well, we live in a world where events in a land-locked country in Central Asia can have literally life and death implications for us here in America. Globalization means that we cannot isolate ourselves even if we want to.
This leads to the second major factor that distinguishes today s terrorism
from its predecessors: the potential link to weapons of mass destruction or
as Washington pundits like to call them, "WMD." Terrorist groups today
not only have global reach, but they are actively seeking to acquire and use
against us chemical, biological,
radiological, and nuclear weapons. Remember terrorists filled the Tokyo subways
with Sarin gas in 1995. You ve probably seen in the past week the videos of
al-Qaida s tests on animals. The attacks of last September serve as warning
of even worse to come if we do not act decisively now to prevent terrorists
from acquiring such weapons by theft, purchase, gift, or their own design and
construction.
As President Bush highlighted during his State of the Union address, it is precisely the coming together of these two trends terrorist groups who tap globalization to extend their power and reach and the possible spread of weapons of mass destruction that poses the most important security challenge of our time.
How has your government responded to this challenge? I m obviously biased, but I feel we have done a pretty good job so far.
I have had the privilege of working with a National Security Council team
to help draft a national strategy for combating terrorism and I feel that this
team shows in a microcosm how we have responded to the task at hand. A Navy
SEAL on detail to the NSC s Office for Combating Terrorism led the team. Its
membership included an infantry colonel and Coast Guard officer, lawyers from
the Justice Department and analysts from the CIA, a Ph.D. from the Treasury
Department and career civil
servants from the Defense Department. We also held informal conversations with
some of our allies, diplomats and military officers alike. We worked many hours
together, indeed sometimes days at a time. Of course, there were disagreements
and debates and they were sometimes heated. But they were healthy, and helped
us forge a consensus on fundamentals.
And this same sort of process has occurred throughout our government at every level, within departments and agencies, between them, and with our counterparts in other countries. Of course, much improvement is needed and many barriers remain to be cleared, but, overall, I think "Wild Bill" Donovan would have been pleased with the way we have responded to the challenges of the past year.
From these deliberations emerged a set of basic ideas that will guide our efforts in the months and years ahead:
First, we understand that, since the terrorist threat is both global and enduring, so must be our response. There will be no decisive battle in this war, but a series of accumulated successes, won in all parts of the globe. Some we may hear about. Many we may not.
Second, our effort must be truly national. It must involve all levels of government local, state, and federal the private sector, educational institutions, and non-profits all working together. And at its foundation, it needs the understanding and backing of people like you concerned, engaged, and patriotic American citizens.
Third, American leadership is key. As the most powerful nation on earth, America must be prepared to do some heavy lifting. Otherwise, the heavy lifting might never get done.
Fourth, we recognize that, despite our unmatched power, the United States will not be able to win the war on terrorism alone. Simply put, we cannot by ourselves investigate every lead, arrest every suspect, gather and analyze all the intelligence, effectively sanction every sponsor of terrorism, prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, or find and fight every terrorist cell. As President Bush has stressed from the beginning, "The defeat of terror requires an international coalition of unprecedented scope and cooperation." So our effort must also be truly international as well.
That said, let there be no doubt that we will act alone when necessary. Our right to self-defense is unquestioned as is our resolution and capability to defend ourselves against any threat, anywhere, any time. If anyone doubted this before September 11th, they certainly do not now.
Fifth, and finally, we must use every means at our disposal to defeat al-Qaida and its ilk and to prevent other murderers from rising to take their place.
As Admiral Quigley just described so well, the military has a critical role to play in the war against terror. To date, the military s response has been breathtaking in its effectiveness.
At the same time, the effectiveness of our armed forces abroad will depend in no small part on the support they receive here at home. You all know this and that s why the kind of support that you in the American Legion provide to servicemen and women and their families is so important to our campaign. And we serving in the government today thank you for this support.
But military force alone will not suffice; indeed, for many phases of this long conflict military power will not be the most important factor in our success. We must also fight terror with every economic, law enforcement, diplomatic, and intelligence weapon we have in our arsenal. Every one.
The war against terrorism is exactly the sort of conflict "Wild Bill" Donovan the soldier, lawyer, intelligence czar, and diplomat would have understood in his bones. This is a war of many fronts and many different types of successes some seen, some unseen. This is a war where tracking complex financial transactions can have as much impact on our enemy as an artillery barrage. This is a war where effective diplomacy and police work can thwart terrorist attacks as effectively and at less cost than a precision air strike. This is a war where diligent collection and sharing of intelligence will produce results as far-reaching as a major military operation.
With so many activities going on around the world so many news stories from so many different countries it is easy to lose track of the bigger picture. The trees obscure the forest. But stepping back from the details of every separate development, you ll see that our strategy will focus our energies on four global fronts simultaneously:
We will defeat terrorist groups. We will identify and target the terrorists, disrupt their operations, dismember their organizations, and put their members on the run. As President Bush has said, we will bring them to justice or bring justice to them.
We will deny terrorists the support, safe haven, and sponsorship they need
to survive and thrive. We will forge coalitions among other countries that are
both willing and able to join in this fight. And we will work together to ensure
that all countries meet in deed, not just word, the demanding obligations established
in UN Security Council Resolution 1373 and the twelve UN conventions against
terrorism. When governments are weak but willing where they need assistance
in combating terrorism within their own borders we stand ready to help build
their own capabilities to defeat the terrorist scourge. Our assistance covers
the gamut from seminars in how to write, implement, and enforce anti-money laundering
laws to specialized counterterrorism training programs. And when we confront
countries that continue to
actively sponsor terrorism, we will isolate them and take steps to compel them
to stop their support.
We will diminish the underlying conditions that allow terrorism to take root
and flourish. Poverty and oppression are not the causes of terrorism. Nor are
ethnic strife and disputes between countries. But poverty, oppression, ethnic
hatred, and regional instability all breed the sorts of grievances that extremists
can then exploit for their
nefarious ends. We will, therefore, continue our diplomatic efforts and targeted
foreign aid to address these underlying conditions and thereby deny terrorists
the fertile soil they need to plant their poisonous seeds.
And most important of all, we will defend the American people and homeland,
as well as our friends, interests, and values abroad. This means improved security
measures in our airports and the global networks of shipping and transportation.
This means better border controls with not only Mexico and Canada, but in every
country. And this means comprehensive programs to combat the spread of weapons
of mass destruction whether loose nukes in the former Soviet Union or
the spread of sensitive technical information through black markets. You may
have noticed in yesterday s papers, for instance, the joint U.S.-Russia operation
to secure 100 pounds of uranium from a nuclear reactor in Yugoslavia. That s
enough to make up to three bombs. It s operations like this around the world
that will keep us safe here at home.
In the eleven months since the September 11th attacks, we have accomplished
much on each of these four fronts defeat, deny, diminish, and defend: In a brilliant
combined intelligence-military campaign, we destroyed al-Qaida s bases in Afghanistan,
killed or captured many of its operatives, and put the rest on the run. At the
same time, we and our allies have helped liberate the Afghan people from the
oppressive rule of the Taliban and their al-Qaida supporters. In Afghanistan
today,
children can once again play soccer, music can be heard, and girls are allowed
to go to school again. Working with a broad international coalition, we are
helping to rebuild Afghanistan so that it never again becomes a safe haven for
terrorists.
And this is all due to our brave men and women in uniform. I know that Secretary of State Powell is proud of them, Deputy Secretary of State Armitage is proud of them , President Bush is proud of them, and you are all proud of them too.
At the same time, more than 90 nations have arrested or detained over 2,400 terrorists. Over 160 countries have joined us in freezing the assets of terrorists and their supporters worth over $115 million. Around the world, we are working to build up other nations forces so that they can take the fight to the terrorists from the streets of Sanaa in Yemen to the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia, from the island of Basilan in the Philippines to the jungles of Colombia.
And, away from the headlines, we have continued to make steady diplomatic
progress, ranging from securing the base and overflight rights critical to our
military efforts to creating new ways for countries to band together in the
fight against terrorism at the United Nations and regional organizations like
the Organization of American
States.
The new Office of Homeland Security released last month the country s first National Strategy for Homeland Security an impressive document that I encourage you all to read. It s available on the White House website www.whitehouse.gov.
The President has also proposed the creation of a new Department of Homeland Security. This will be the most far-reaching reorganization of the federal government since the National Security Act of 1947. Hopefully, when Congress returns from recess next month it will act rapidly to pass this vital piece of legislation.
But much remains to be done. We are now entering a new and even more difficult phase in our war against terrorism.
Our enemies are smart. Terrorists have learned from our successes and are changing their tactics accordingly. It is unlikely, for instance, that our efforts to freeze assets will continue to yield the sort of results that we have achieved to date.
More fundamental, too often in the past, with the fading of memories of a terrible terrorist attack, the focus on permanent improvements has faded as well. We cannot let that happen again. But we are now entering a phase where a lot of unglamorous and unpublicized work needs to be done to lock in the kind of international cooperation we have seen since September 11th.
Working through little known but critical international organizations like
the Financial Action Task Force to fight terrorist financing, training teams
of border inspectors in Central Asia how better to detect possible shipments
of radioactive materials, helping foreign legislators write the laws they need
to prosecute and punish terrorists
within their borders all these unheralded day-to-day activities and many more
are what will help create a world where Americans can live free without fear
of terrorism.
There is no easy end to this struggle. We will face the terrorist challenge for the foreseeable future.
But we cannot shut ourselves off from the world. America has always been a free, open, welcoming, and dynamic society and that has helped make us such a powerful force for good in the world.
The ultimate challenge, therefore, is for us to confront the terrorist threat without undermining the basic principles that have made our country unique and great the very principles that your organization was founded to defend and has upheld so well through the 20th century.
We need you more than ever in the 21st century. All of you know the meaning of service to country. Now your country needs you again to serve as concerned citizens of the republic. I applaud your commitment as individuals and as an organization to being engaged with these issues and helping educate others as well. I urge you to continue your support for our servicemen and women and their families as they make their marvelous contributions in what will surely be a long, difficult but historic campaign. And, of course, we in the State Department welcome your continued strong support. You are one of our most important backers.
But your governments need your help in other ways as well. I urge you when you return to your communities all across this country to speak not only with your friends and families and business associates but also with your government leaders at every level. They all need your insights, support, probing questions, and, yes, sometimes constructive criticism as well. As you know from experience, the full participation of the American people will be critical to beating the terrorist challenge. "Wild Bill" Donovan and founders of your great organization understood this in 1919. I know that you here today remain true to this proud tradition.
I thank you for your support. And I thank you for being such a great audience here this morning.
[End]
Released on August 30, 2002
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