Directorate for Programs, Plans, Press and Public Diplomacy
The "Programs Directorate" is responsible for a wide range of international cooperative programs designed to strengthen the capabilities of partner nations to combat terrorism. It also produces the annual Department of State Country Reports on Terrorism, a mandated report to Congress which provides lawmakers an assessment of trends in international terrorism and the nature of the terrorist threat throughout the world. The Programs Directorate coordinates and integrates S/CT's programmatic priorities into the State Department's performance planning process. Finally, this Directorate also manages S/CT's press and public diplomacy activities as well as its relations with Congress.
International cooperation continues to be an integral part of the overall U.S. strategy for combating terrorism. The Programs Directorate administers a broad range of foreign assistance programs designed to enhance the ability of our international partners, acting in our common interest, to defeat terrorists wherever and however they operate. This includes assistance to develop practical capacities-in law enforcement, border control, and banking regulation, among others-to identify, interdict and defeat terrorists.
Programs include the Anti-Terrorism Assistance (ATA) program, which is implemented by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. This program serves as the primary provider of U.S. Government anti-terrorism training and equipment to the law enforcement agencies of partner nations, providing a wide range of courses to strengthen critical counterterrorism (CT) capacities.
Another vital program administered by the Programs Directorate, in close cooperation with the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, is the Counterterrorism Finance program. This program works to deprive terrorists of the money that funds their operations.
The Programs Directorate's responsibilities also include co-chairing, with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the interagency Technical Support Working Group (TSWG). This function is managed by the Directorate's Technical Programs Unit. TSWG conducts the National Interagency Combating Terrorism Research and Development Program whose purpose is to enhance the CT technology and equipment capabilities of USG agencies/elements involved in counterterrorism/antiterrorism activities.
Finally, the Directorate provides policy, planning, and programming guidance to the Terrorist Interdiction Program (TIP), which provides the immigration authorities of partner nations with a computer database system that enables identification of suspected terrorists attempting to transit air, land or sea ports of entry.
Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley is the Deputy Coordinator, Programs Directorate at the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism.
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