Report
Office of the Coordinator for
Counterterrorism
Bureau of
Counterterrorism
March 26, 2013
This report is submitted pursuant to the requirements for a congressionally mandated annual report codified at 22 U.S.C. § 2349aa-7(b). During Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, the U.S. government provided assistance related to international terrorism through the Departments of State, Homeland Security, Justice, and Treasury, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This report does not include assistance related to international terrorism provided through the Department of Defense.
Note: All monetary figures are presented in U.S. dollars.
Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program (ATA): In FY 2012, $199.69 million in Nonproliferation, Anti-terrorism, Demining, and Related programs (NADR) funds, supported hundreds of courses, workshops, and technical consultations that trained 9,869 participants from over 50 countries. Course topics included crisis management and response, identifying travel document fraud, cyber security, bomb detection and disposal, airport security, border control, response to incidents involving weapons of mass destruction, and hostage negotiation and rescue. Eighteen on-site visits assessed partner country critical counterterrorism capabilities and were used to both inform Country Assistance Plans and evaluate progress. As an example of the program’s effectiveness, ATA-trained Pakistani bomb squad members were called upon multiple times to defuse improvised explosive devices potentially saving many lives in Karachi and Peshawar and countless other locations within Pakistan.
Counterterrorism Engagement (CTE): In FY 2012, $9.5million in NADR funds supported sixteen initiatives to build political will and capacities among foreign government officials and civil societies and support multilateral efforts, including through the newly launched Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF). CTE promotes effective counterterrorism policies and programs ranging from promoting rule of law and human rights to improving border and transportation security. Funding provided to critical countries and regions to promote awareness and implementation of international standards, norms, and best practices was implemented by expert counterterrorism bodies of the United Nations, regional organizations, and a non-governmental organization, the Institute for Security Studies. Specific examples of projects include training of South Asian judges and prosecutors to support and protect victims and witnesses in terrorism cases; promoting the GCTF Rabat Memorandum on Good Practices for Effective Counterterrorism Practice in the Criminal Justice Sector in East and West Africa; improving cyber security through the development of computer incident response teams throughout the Western Hemisphere, and developing a tool kit of best practices to secure bus transit from terrorist attack in the Southeast Asia region.
Border Security: Through the Terrorist Interdiction Program/Personal Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation System (TIP/PISCES), $42 million in NADR funds sustained, upgraded, and expanded TIP/PISCES system capabilities at 184 ports of entry (POEs) in 18 countries, including biometric equipment upgrades at 53 POEs in 11 countries. With the signing of a Memorandum of Intention (MOI) in April 2012, Niger became the 18th PISCES partner country. During the July-September installment in Iraq, nine POEs were upgraded and over 200 host nation staff were trained to use the new capabilities. During the July-September installment in Ghana, TIP/PISCES staff installed PISCES hardware at four POEs and trained 186 host nation staff. World wide, TIP/PISCES processed an estimated 250,000 travelers every day.
Countering Violent Extremism (CVE): Through the CVE Local Grants Program, the State Department provided funding to U.S. embassies and consulates for activities (not to exceed $150,000 per project) to support local efforts to counter violent extremist ideology and terrorist recruitment in communities confronting significant radicalization risks. Funding of $1.1 million in NADR monies were used for small grants, sponsoring 12 projects in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Indonesia (three projects), Kenya (two projects), Malaysia, Nigeria, Peru, Serbia, and Sri Lanka. All activities focused on law enforcement capacity building.
The State Department also provided $725,000 in NADR funding to enhance the networking and communication skills of women committed to CVE. Networks of women in eight countries learned how to train other women to recognize the signs of radicalization and to mediate conflict that might give rise to violent extremism within their communities. In collaboration with the United Nations International Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), the State Department supported a pilot project on the disengagement and rehabilitation of incarcerated violent extremists. This initiative created a multilateral forum for policymakers, practitioners, and experts. Funding of $1.3 million in NADR funds enabled UNICRI to expand this initiative by including a technical assistance component to respond to bilateral government requests for assistance to address broader problems of radicalization in prisons, in addition to the disengagement and rehabilitation work. This funding also enabled UNICRI and its NGO partner, the International Center for Counterterrorism-The Hague, to complete a draft paper on international good practices in these two prison-related areas. The 30 members of the GCTF adopted this paper in June, commonly known as the Rome Memorandum, at the GCTF’s Second Ministerial Plenary in Istanbul.
Counterterrorism Finance (CTF) Training: The Department of State provided $20.45 million in NADR CTF funding to multiple federal agencies for Anti-Money Laundering and Counterterrorist Finance (AML/CTF) training, and technical assistance programs for participants from multiple countries, while providing oversight of the interagency process to ensure that recipients of NADR funded training implemented plans in compliance with international AML/CTF standards.
• The State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism designed and implemented innovative courses and workshops to assist foreign governments to identify AML/CTF deficiencies, strengthen domestic abilities to address the terrorist financing threat, and to develop their awareness of and ability to confront kidnapping for ransom.
• The Deparment of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) provided analytical exchanges with foreign Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs).
• The Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section provided expertise in the drafting of laws and regulations.
• The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Office focused on developing forensic accounting techniques and an investigative, “follow the money” technique used to examine financial records and data to help determine hidden assets and money movement.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigations conducted international training in countering terrorist financing, money laundering, financial fraud, and complex financial crimes.
• DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducted capacity building efforts through the HSI-led Cross-Border Financial Investigations Training (CBFIT) and Resident Cross-Border Financial Advisor programs (R/CBFIA). The CBFIT and R/CBFIA programs, supported by NADR funds, provided specialized training, technical assistance, and best practices on cross-border financial crime and money laundering to foreign law enforcement personnel, border control personnel, intelligence, regulatory agencies, and judicial authorities. These programs provided foreign partners with the capability to effectively implement relevant Financial Action Task Force Recommendations.
• The ICE HSI Trade Transparency Unit (TTU) conducted presentations on trade-based money laundering to hundreds of personnel from foreign law enforcement, customs authorities, and foreign military charged with border enforcement functions; as well as representatives from the financial sector from various countries around the world. The presentations and discussions resulted in numerous beneficial contacts and potential case leads.
Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) Threat Reduction: In FY 2012, $9.3 million in NADR funds were provided to secure or destroy at-risk or illicitly proliferated MANPADS, as part of a program to prevent acquisition of these and other advanced conventional weapons by terrorists, insurgents, or other non-state actors, and to reduce threats of accidental explosions. Since the program's inception in FY 2003, these efforts led to the reduction of over 33,000 MANPADS in 38 countries and the improved security of thousands more MANPADS. The Department engaged 30 countries to reduce the threat and impact of MANPADS, focusing with its interagency partners on North Africa including Libya, and the Near East, North Africa, and Sahel regions. For more information on these efforts, please see the State Department fact sheet on MANPADS available at http://www.state.gov/t/pm/wra/.
The Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism (WMDT) Program: In FY 2012, WMDT received $6.042 million in NADR funding for projects that improved international capabilities to prevent, detect, and respond to radiological/nuclear terrorist attacks. Funding supported the U.S. Co-Chaired Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT), and the Preventing Nuclear Smuggling Program (PNSP). The GICNT is a multinational partnership of 85 countries and four international observers (International Atomic Energy Agency, European Union, INTERPOL, and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime). The WMDT program facilitated the continued operation of GICNT Working Groups in Nuclear Forensics, Nuclear Detection, and Response and Mitigation, with all three working groups developing practical best practices and guidance documents. The PNSP assists in reducing the amount of nuclear and radioactive material currently on the black market and helps integrate these efforts with other U.S. and international threat reduction efforts. PNSP projects range from improving prosecutions of smugglers, enhancing nuclear forensics capabilities, orphan source amnesty projects, strengthening smuggling response protocols, and improving border security.
The Global Threat Reduction (GTR) Program: GTR spearheads the most comprehensive U.S. effort to reduce the risk that biological, chemical, and nuclear experts will assist terrorists with a WMD attack. GTR received $69 million in NADR funding for efforts to prevent terrorists and proliferating states from acquiring WMD-related expertise, materials, technologies, and equipment. GTR leads the U.S. government’s principal global biosecurity effort, and works to improve the security of dangerous biological materials in countries that have a significant terrorist presence, developing bioscience capacity, and dangerous endemic pathogens. GTR also has the only U.S. chemical security program on improving chemical security best practices, raising awareness of chemical security, promoting the elimination of hazardous chemicals, and improving the management of dangerous chemicals in laboratory and industry settings.
Justice Sector and Rule of Law: The Counterterrorism Unit (CTU) in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training (OPDAT) supported efforts to improve and develop criminal justice sector capacity in partner countries, enabling them to more effectively combat serious transnational crimes, including terrorism and the financing of terrorism. OPDAT efforts were also directed at improving the operation of criminal justice systems. The CTU received $14.6 million in NADR funding from the State Department to deploy Resident Legal Advisors (RLAs) to Bangladesh, Kenya, Malaysia, Mali, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, to increase host government capacity to effectively investigate and prosecute terrorism-related crimes, particularly financial crimes that help fund terrorism. In addition, new counterterrorism RLA programs were initiated in Iraq, Mauritania, and Niger. OPDAT also deployed a counterterrorism-focused Intermittent Legal Advisor (ILA) to Tunisia. The OPDAT RLA program in Mali was discontinued; funding was subsequently shifted to the RLA program in Niger.
DOJ’s International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) works with foreign governments to develop professional and transparent law enforcement institutions that protect human rights, combat corruption, and reduce the threat of transnational crime and terrorism. In FY12, the State Department provided $4.4 million in NADR funding for ICITAP’s program in Algeria. The multi-year funded program provides assistance in the areas of forensics, criminal investigations, and border security. ICITAP continues to focus on the design and delivery of a comprehensive police counterterrorism assistance program to the Algerian Gendarmerie Nationale. The State Department also provided $1.9 million in NADR funds for a multi-country program covering Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Algeria to field a full-time corrections advisor to address counterterrorism-related prison reform issues. In Indonesia, the advisor will coordinate with the Directorate General for Corrections and UNICRI to design and build countering violent extremism programs for terrorist inmates at selected pilot prisons.
The State Department also provided ICITAP with $810,500 in Assistance to Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia (AEECA) to continue developing a biometric visa database system for the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and $313,000 in AEECA funds to field and support a full-time counterterrorism advisor to assist Bosnia and Herzegovina’s State Investigation and Protection Agency to develop its capacity to collect, analyze, and disseminate criminal intelligence.
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