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12. Equipping the Federal Government to Counter Terrorism
Pages 335-356

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From page 335...
... This report does not purport to offer an enduring technological strategy for countering terrorism. The threat the nation faces is so multifaceted, so subject to changes (both in national vulnerabilities and in potential terrorists' intentions)
From page 336...
... The "organization of the federal government's programs for combating terrorism," it wrote, "is fragmented, uncoordinated, and politically unaccountable."3 It 1Second Annual Report to the President and Congress of the Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction (Gilmore Commission, December 2000) ; Third Annual Report to the President and the Congress of the Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction (Gilmore Commission, December 2001)
From page 337...
... In this chapter, the committee focuses on factors that affect the government' s capacity to implement a national strategy for the use of science and technology to counter terrorism. In the first section below, it discusses the issues that drive the need for coordination across the federal government and the capabilities needed for effectively defining priorities and managing programs.
From page 338...
... One important factor is the minimal overlap between the agencies that have historically performed innovative research that could now be applied to counterterrorism and the agencies with operational missions in homeland security. This issue is discussed in the penultimate section of this chapter, on the role of the federal agencies in developing and using science and technology for countering terrorism.
From page 339...
... "will continue to coordinate the federal government's homeland security efforts and to advise the President on a comprehensive Homeland Security strategy." 10 Below, the committee discusses a number of the factors affecting the government's ability to determine a counterterrorism strategy and efficiently 8The President's June 6, 2002 "Address to the Nation on the New Department of Homeland Security" is available online at . 9The mission of the proposed Department of Homeland Security would be to "prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism, and minimize the damage, and assist in the recovery, from terrorist attacks that do occur within the United States." The department would be organized into four divisions: Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection; Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Countermeasures; Border and Transportation Security; and Emergency Preparedness and Response (the Homeland Security Act of 2002, available online at )
From page 340...
... Responsibilities are unclear; authority is insufficiently specified; and the conception, execution, and evaluation of counterterrorism research and development are inadequately focused and coordinated.ll Nevertheless, essential institutions for ensuring that critical science and technology contributions are made to homeland security efforts are in place, though some improvements to existing capabilities and processes are required. One such institution is the Office of Homeland Security, which was created by Executive Order of the President on October 8, 2001.12 OHS is located in the 1lThe GAO in its September 2001 report noted that the management of counterterrorism research and development is "self governing and highly dependent on voluntary coordination mechanisms" (General Accounting Office, 2001, Combating Terrorism: Selected Challenges and Related Recommendations, GAO-01-82, September, p.
From page 341...
... Among these offices, the logical partitioning of responsibility is that OHS would develop the overall strategy for homeland security, including its S&T components. OSTP would assist OHS in generating these S&T components, 13Specifically, the Executive Order states, "The mission of the Office shall be to develop and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the United States from terrorist threats or attacks." The status of this mission was described by Mitchell E
From page 342...
... The Role of OHS in the S&T Strategy for Homeland Security Development of a strategy for harnessing science and technology to counter terrorism was not listed as one of OHS's major responsibilities in the Executive Orderi6 creating OHS, notwithstanding the highly technical nature of much of the work. This Executive Order also fails to document a formal role for OSTP in homeland security, and the director of OSTP was not explicitly named as a participant in OHS activities.
From page 343...
... As presidential priorities, these programs will be supported in the budgets of the relevant agencies, will be identified in OMB's crosscutting budget analyses describing counterterrorism activities, and will be appropriately justified and defended during the budget process. Need for Analytical Capabilities to Support Decisions About Homeland Security Priorities and Programs The national homeland security strategy currently under development in OHS is an important first step toward a national counterterrorism plan, but the threats, vulnerabilities, and available solutions will be constantly changing, and the federal government will continually be faced with the challenge of identifying new problems and new opportunities for strengthening the nation and the even more difficult task of prioritizing potential government actions.
From page 344...
... This recommended Homeland Security Institute should be a dedicated, contracted, not-for-profit organization. It is essential that the federal government have access to these capabilities so that it can make effective decisions about priorities and programs for counterterrorism, whether the capabilities support a strengthened OHS or a new Department of Homeland Security.
From page 345...
... Nye recommended that the then-proposed Office of Homeland Security be supported by a new research corporation, specifically commissioned to deal with terrorism.~9 Nonprofit, independent, or contractor-operated technical organizations have been providing dedicated, sole-source analytic support to national security agencies and the Department of Defense for a number of years. Examples include the MITRE Corporation, Project Air Force at the RAND Corporation, the Institute for Defense Analyses, and the Aerospace Corporation.20 A primary advantage of these sorts of quasi-governmental organizations is that they are structured and managed to provide support for decision making by government officials by quickly providing important information based on a deep understanding of the technical issues relevant to those decisions.
From page 346...
... For example, OSTP needs to be able to tap the expertise of all relevant agencies including those represented on the Homeland Security Council and other agencies responsible for science and technology research and development to develop research priorities. Recommendation 12.4: The Director of OSTP should lead an interagency process to develop the S&T research priorities for counterterrorism.
From page 347...
... . 23OMB's Annual Report to Congress on Combating Terrorism fulfills legislative requirements that the Administration provide information on executive branch funding for combating terrorism, domestic preparedness (primarily defense against weapons of mass destruction)
From page 348...
... Recommendation 12.5: OMB's Annual Report to Congress on Combating Terrorism should include a description of progress toward achieving the goals of the S&T agenda for countering terrorism as well as actual budget appropriations in suitable activity categories and by agency. In addition, OMB should prepare and issue jointly with OSTP an annual budget crosscut describing how the present and proposed budgets reflect the S&T priorities for countering terrorism.
From page 349...
... Oversight from at least twenty committees heightens the need for coherent, continuous consultation between the branches." Hart-Rudman (2001, at xvii) recommended that Congress perform a thorough review of its relationship to national security and its own committee structure, and the commission further recommended the merger of appropriations subcommittees with their respective authorizing committees.
From page 350...
... One mechanism for building this desirable institutional capacity could be the establishment of an entity within the Congressional Budget Office. THE ROLE OF THE FEDERAL AGENCIES IN DEVELOPING AND USING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR COUNTERING TERRORISM Federal agencies are of course currently providing a critical source of expertise for OHS and OSTP as they formulate the national homeland-security strategy, but the most important responsibility of the federal agencies will be in executing this strategy.
From page 351...
... Some or all of the agencies responsible for setting technology requirements and deploying technologies may move into a new Department of Homeland Security so that they can more effectively coordinate their work with one another, but they will still be organizationally separated from the government's largest and most advanced science, engineering, and medical science programs. The deploying agencies will still need the expertise and mechanisms to communicate their needs to the researchers and to utilize the results of such programs.
From page 352...
... Many federal agenciesincluding NIH, NSF, DOE, NASA, and the armed services research offices (ARO, ONR, AFOSR) have the mission, experience, and infrastructure to support this sort of basic research and innovation.
From page 353...
... For example, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the Joint Services Chemical and Biological Defense Program, and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases all are and will be carrying out large-scale science and engineering efforts closely related to domestic counterterrorism activities.
From page 354...
... Thus Congress has established the Transportation Security Administration, and this new agency will have a multibillion-dollar budget and tens of thousands of employees. But at present, it has no advanced research capability, little experience in high-tech systems acquisition, and insufficient capability to do the required systems analysis, put needed technology programs in place, and manage them to success.
From page 355...
... REFERENCES Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction (Gilmore Commission)
From page 356...
... 2002. Possible Impacts of Major Counter Terrorism Security Actions on Research, Development, and Higher Education, Congressional Research Service, April 8.


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