Combating terrorism : issues to be resolved to improve counterterrorism operations

818284PDFResearch PaperGAO/NSIAD-99-135TerrorismCountermeasuresDisaster preparednessInteragency relationsOperationsCoordinationSpecial eventsCommand and control systemsUnited States. General Accounting OfficeUnited States. Government Accountability OfficeNTL-AVIATION-Aviation Safety/AirworthinessNTL-INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS-INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMSNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Transit Safety and SecurityUS Transportation CollectionTerrorist attacks against U.S. personnel and interests domestically and abroad highlight the need for effective U.S. efforts to combat terrorism. As requested, the General Accounting Office (GAO) prepared this unclassified summary of their February 1999 classified report on interagency counterterrorist operations. Specifically, they examined how agencies worked together in counterterrorist operations and special events; strengths and weaknesses of international and domestic counterterrorist exercises; and agency and interagency processes to capture and share lessons learned. Briefly, in the last 3 years, federal agencies have conducted several successful interagency operations overseas, including some in which suspected terrorists have been returned to the United States to stand trial. In addition, federal agencies have deployed personnel and equipment to prepare for many special events such as the Atlanta Olympic Games. However, federal agencies have not completed interagency guidance and resolved command and control issues. To improve their preparedness to respond to terrorist incidents, federal agencies have conducted over 200 exercises, of which about half included three or more federal agencies and about one third included state and local participants. However, agencies have not fully achieved the interagency counterterrorist exercise program directed in a June 1995 Presidential Directive because an interagency Exercise Subgroup has not prepared and submitted, and senior agency officials have not approved, an interagency program. As a result, some complex transfers of command and control between agencies have not been exercised. The Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have requirements and processes in place to capture lessons learned from counterterrorist operations and exercises. These agencies, however, did not capture lessons learned for all the exercises they led or all the field exercises they participated in