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Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: Thank you very much for the opportunity to testify today at the hearing for my confirmation as the Coordinator for Counterterrorism in the Department of State. I have the pleasure of being accompanied by my daughter Alexandra--who has just finished the third grade and is enjoying her summer vacation. In describing to her what I was doing today I said I will have to answer questions about my job--it is sort of like a "big test" at school. If I pass this test, Mr. Chairman, and I am confirmed, I very much look forward to consulting with you and the committee on the important issues regarding the threat of international terrorism. During my tenure on the job as Acting Coordinator, it has become apparent to me the important role that Congress has played in the past 20 years in forging the bipartisan consensus on an approach to terrorism that has been successful on many fronts. This is especially apparent when I travel abroad and work with governments that do not have an active legislature. In those cases, their response to international terrorism is almost always weakened. In virtually all of my meetings with other countries I urge them to adopt the type of legislation forged in the U.S. over the past years that has created a sound basis for our counterterrorism policy. Mr. Chairman, in many ways this job completes a full circle for me from when in late 1979, I was first deployed overseas as a young lieutenant in the U.S. Army Special Forces. I was assigned to a counterterrorism unit, as the executive officer of the "door-kicking" team. Later I became the Detachment Commander and was promoted to Captain. At that time, Americans were being held hostage in our embassy in Iran and we were about to embark on a very difficult "era of terrorism" of the 1980s. On a shoestring, we were putting together a hostage rescue unit that although short on funding, was long on will, determination, and professionalism. Working with those dedicated sergeants of the U.S. Army Special Forces remains one of the highlights of my career. Since then, the threat of terrorism has shifted. Although state sponsorship remains a very real problem, a bipartisan and steadfast approach to counterterrorism over the past three administrations has succeeded in significantly reducing the threat of state-sponsored terrorism. More needs to be done to wipe out that scourge--but it is important to periodically review our past accomplishments if for no other reason than to redouble our efforts and determination to defeat the new threats we face today. And those threats remain formidable. The U.S. has been through a grueling year as a result of the bombings of our embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam last August. The groups involved in these attacks are more in the mold of the new terrorist threat--groups that are often self-financed with less direct linkage to state sponsors--groups that also have shown less restraint in the use of murderous violence, as in East Africa and in the domestic terrorist attacks in Oklahoma City and on the World Trade Center--these terrorists want a "body count." For this reason our efforts against terrorism must remain strong and consistent. We must continue to de-legitimize the use of terror as an instrument and criminalize their acts. As Secretary Albright stated after the East African bombings: "Terror is not a legitimate form of political expression or a manifestation of religious faith. It is murder, and those who perpetrate it, finance it, or otherwise support it must be opposed." When Secretary Albright asked me to do this job in an acting capacity, she conveyed to me her deep commitment to protecting the lives of Americans overseas--both official and nonofficial--her determination to bring all terrorists to justice: to pursue a "full court press" against terrorism from every angle, and to employ all the instruments at our disposal including intelligence; the military; law enforcement; and diplomacy. Mr. Chairman, if confirmed, I commit to working vigorously to meet this challenge, and with the level of commitment expressed by Secretary Albright, by you, and other members of this committee who have worked tirelessly on behalf of our nation's counterterrorism goals. Thank you. [end of document] |
