U.S. Providing $1 Million Voluntary Contribution to Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism (CICTE)

The U.S. delegation to the Third Regular Session of the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism of the Organization of American States, being held this week in San Salvador, pledged $1 million to support the Committee’s work. U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner, who headed the U.S. delegation, said the funds would be used to promote the committee’s technical capacity to strengthen counterterrorism expertise in the Americas. The funds will be provided by the Department of State.

The Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism formally established in 1999 and chaired by the United States until this Session, is comprised of all 34 active member states of the Organization of American States. It has taken a number of practical steps to prevent, combat, and eliminate terrorism since the September 11 attacks and reflects the spirit of Hemispheric solidarity in this effort. Its main objective is to foster multilateral cooperation in the form of training and information sharing among member nations. The committee’s Third Regular Session was focused on strengthening cooperative measures and on emerging terrorist threats, as well as linkages between transnational criminal activities, such as drugs and corruption, to terrorist activities.

In addition to Customs Commissioner Bonner, senior members of the U.S. delegation included Permanent Representative to the OAS Ambassador Roger Noriega, Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Lincoln Bloomfield, and Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism in the Department of State Stephanie Kinney, who chaired CICTE on behalf of the United States until this Session.