Printable Version
Winning the War on Radical Jihadist Terrorism
Testimony Of CNP President Tim Roemer To The House Of Representatives
September 29, 2005
Presented To:
House Committee on International Relations Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation “Evolving Counterterrorism Strategy”
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Transcript
Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Sherman, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you and the Committee today on what I consider to be the paramount challenge to U.S. national security for this generation: the threat of radical Jihadist terrorism.
Today I would like to briefly discuss the threat environment as I see it, our responses to date, and then put forward a comprehensive strategy that has as its objective the defeat of radical Jihadist terrorism and the protection of the United States from the threat of catastrophic terrorist attack.
To know the path to victory we must see and understand the enemy. Since the fall of Kabul, Jihadists have carried out dozens of terrorist attacks from Bali to Istanbul, Riyadh to London. Osama Bin Ladin, his chief planner Ayaman Zawahiri and the Taliban’s leader Mullah Omar still remain at large. Credible threats of terrorist action against the United States and our allies are received regularly.
I believe there are strong indications that pre-9/11 Al-Qaeda has morphed from a top down terrorist organization with a command and control operation run by Bin Ladin, to a loose network of terrorist cells who receive inspiration from Bin Ladin but have taken the initiative and have adopted a “fire at will” approach to Jihadist terrorism. While we may have smashed the center of Al-Qaeda in its Afghan lair, it has scattered, like mercury on a mirror, to the four corners of the earth ready to strike at any time.
There are also strong indications that radical Jihadism is taking on aspects of a movement, with an accompanying ideology that can recruit new adherents faster than we can kill or capture them. We can look no further than Iraq to see the potential for this dangerous development. Zarqawi has skillfully manipulated Sunni resentment to his benefit so that two and a half years after the fall of Baghdad, Al-Qaeda carries out hundreds of bombings in Iraq, operates with near impunity and is successfully recruiting the next generation of terrorists in what is the largest live fire training exercise for Jihadists since Afghanistan.
The Administration’s response to the attacks of September 11th to date has been to focus on the strategy of “fighting them in Baghdad so we won’t have to fight them in Boston”.
The Administration’s counter-terrorism strategy has led us in the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which in turn led to the occupation of Iraq by 150,000 U.S. troops, which in turn has led to Iraq becoming “the central front in the war on terror.” I submit to you Mr. Chairman that America’s current counter-terrorism strategy has them “filling the swamp” rather than us “draining the swamp” of terrorists and while having one hand tied behind our back. It is high time for a serious re calculating and re-thinking of the war on terrorism.
As we move forward to fight this foe, we must always remember the complex challenge before us. For victory in the war on Jihadism will not take place with the capture of a capital city or the destruction of an army. It will not take place by announcing we have captured “the number two” Al Qaeda leader. The bipartisan 9/11 Commission stressed a broad political-military strategy that rests on a stable tripod of policies. Winning the war on terror will require America to effectively deploy a three part strategy, with balance, calibration and strength; attack the terrorists, protect the homeland and prevent the rise of future terrorists.
Any other approach opens us up to a long twilight struggle against radical Jihadism in which we are increasingly isolated, the Islamic world becomes more unstable and Americans feel more vulnerable to attack.
Attack the Terrorists: First, we must efficiently target and effectively attack the terrorists. We must bring together every element of national power to identify, isolate and destroy radical Jihadism. I believe we should turn to the wisdom of former General and President U.S. Grant who said, “The art of war is simple enough. Find out where the enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can and keep moving.” To accomplish this mission we must continue the upgrade of our Intelligence Community by encouraging the development of a strong Director of National Intelligence with budgetary powers and demand a dramatic reform in the culture at the FBI to encourage a stronger role for domestic intelligence collection and analysis. We should strengthen the Directorate of Operations at the CIA by encouraging the recruitment of officers and sources with detailed knowledge of Arabic and Islamic culture. We should also greatly expand the capability and reach of U.S. Special Forces so that we have the ability to project lethal force across the globe, any time, anywhere in the pursuit of the terrorists. Equally important, we must have the weapons and means to fight the enemy. We must have true “defense transformation” at the Department of Defense that has us developing and deploying the military weapons of the new “Hot War,” not the old Cold War. F-22 fighter planes built for avoiding the Soviet Union’s radar and costing hundred of millions of dollars apiece are not appropriate investments for our new century or our new challenge.
Protecting the Homeland: Second, we must wisely invest in protecting the homeland. Mr. Chairman, Hurricane Katrina showed us very clearly that with 48 hours warning we could not avoid chaos and confusion in the face of a catastrophic event. We must place as our highest homeland security priority the ability to prepare ourselves to prevent and respond to a catastrophic terrorist attack on American soil. We must focus on the probability that such an attack could involve chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons against an American city.
To keep a catastrophic attack from taking place on American soil we should first act with great speed to secure stockpiles of vulnerable fissile material that can currently be found from Nigeria to Siberia. The Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, or the bi-partisan Nunn-Lugar legislation, is planned to plug along until 2012 after which it is Congressionally mandated to cease operation. Another program, the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, has secured loose nuclear material at nine sites outside Russia. More than one hundred vulnerable sites remain. Let me repeat; we have secured nine sites while 100 remain vulnerable to terrorists. We must place as our highest homeland security priority the securing and removal of vulnerable nuclear bomb making material across the globe.
At home, we must ensure that first responders can communicate with one another at a disaster site. Four years after 9/11, we still do not have this capability. That requires immediate resolution of the interoperability issue, something that is within the power of this Congress to solve. Congress must immediately provide radio spectrum for first responders, and not wait until 2009. We should also make sure that first responder grants are conditioned on participation in regional planning and exercises designed around response to a catastrophic attack. We must also require local communities to implement a unified incident command system.
In the event that local first responders are overwhelmed by a catastrophic terrorist attack involving WMD, we should work on updating and improving the 1878 Posse Comatatis law which was passed to address Union troops in southern states during reconstruction. What is the appropriate role for the National Guard? We should consider designating the U.S. Armed Forces to take the lead on coordinating the response and rescue operations in a national emergency involving a nuclear or biological attack. And, we must develop and implement a national security strategy based on risk and intelligence- not on pork barrel spending. Metrics need to be more effectively developed and tracked. What are the priorities? How many nuclear power plants have been protected? How many oil refineries? How do we know? Today, we do not know because the Department of Homeland Security has not developed or approved this plan.
Preventing the Rise of Future Terrorists: Third, preventing the rise of future terrorists from joining the Jihadist movement must be a higher priority. As World War II drew to a close, President Franklin Roosevelt said, “It is useless to win a war, only to lose a peace.” Our troops can prevail on the battlefield, our intelligence agencies can identify terrorist cells and our defensive measures can foil plots, but the long term key to our national security is isolating the extremists and radical terrorists by helping to create a competing and more powerful vision of the future of the Middle East and the Muslim world. It must be a vision built in partnership with the people of the Middle East and Muslim world and supported by a global alliance.
The population of the Arab world right now is 280 million, approximately equal to that of the United States. Over half of the entire Arab world is under 24 years of age. While a whole generation forms its world view, opinion of the United States across the Arab and Muslim world is at an all time low. Former Ambassador Edward Djerejian currently at the Baker Institute at Rice University has said that, “hostility toward the United States has reached shocking levels.” This situation cannot stand, for if current trends continue, we risk losing tens of thousands of Arab youth to the siren song of suicide bombers. It is essential to the long term success of our efforts to protect America from the threat of terrorism that we engage in a long term effort to support the voices of moderation in the Islamic world. To date, effective long-term initiatives have been piecemeal and have paled in comparison with the resources dedicated to attacking terrorists and protecting the homeland.
I believe that the United States should be part of an international “grand alliance” to support the expansion of alternative public education for the youth of the Islamic world. The parents and children of the Islamic world need to have practical options and acceptable curriculum to the radical madrassas which sow the seeds which Jihadism later reaps.
The United States, the European Union, Middle East and Muslim countries and Japan should work together to ensure that economic development assistance is strengthening an emerging middle class in the Islamic world that has a stake in prosperity and stability. Through non-governmental sources we can provide the resources and investment necessary to support the moderate voices of Islam and the empowerment of women. Again, we need to carefully consider various international intelligence metrics to better understand who is able to help us and how they are doing this.
The United States should also expand, with appropriate security safeguards and balances, student exchanges and cultural visits. The numbers of reviewed exchanges should expand dramatically over current levels of participation. It is crucial for our economy and our higher education system as well as our economic security.
Patience and persistence will be required in the encouragement of the growth of civil societies and democratic institutions in the Islamic world. True success will not be measured by the reports of spin doctors, but measured in the number of children who receive a better education in the Islamic world and the growth of opportunities for Arab and Muslim citizens that eventually demand civil rights and accountable institutions. To secure America in the 21st Century and protect us from the threat of Jihadist attack, we must adopt a more ambitious and comprehensive strategy to counter-radical Jihadist terrorism. I believe we must have a vigorous but balanced approach: attack the terrorists, protect the homeland and prevent the rise of future terrorists. We must pursue all three missions simultaneously, aggressively and with coalition support from partners to prevent the rise of future terrorists. These efforts cannot be viewed separately but practiced together as in a three dimensional chess match.
At another time of national challenge, Harry Truman said, “America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.” Mr. Chairman, this will be a long struggle, one fraught at times with peril, for our foes strike from the shadows. Our response must be one founded on the path of our great American successes- imagination, determination and courage. Thank you.