FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Annual Report on Assistance Related to International Terrorism: Fiscal Year 2013
Report
Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism
Bureau of Counterterrorism
February 11, 2014
Annual Report on Assistance Related to International Terrorism
Fiscal Year 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) 2013, 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 in U.S. dollars.
This report includes descriptions of programs that directly counter international terrorism, such as programs delivered by the Bureau of Counterterrorism. This report also includes descriptions of programs that may have other primary purposes, but that also contribute indirectly, but substantially, to countering international terrorism in one way or another. Such programs include criminal justice assistance provided by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, as well as with assistance related to nonproliferation and destruction of conventional weapons provided by the Bureaus of International Security and Nonproliferation, and Political and Military Affairs.
Antiterrorism Assistance Program (ATA):
In FY 2013, $176.23 million in Nonproliferation, Anti-terrorism, Demining, and Related programs (NADR) funds supported 516 courses, workshops, and technical consultations that trained 11,273 participants from over 50 countries. Four new courses were developed to provide our partner nations with additional law enforcement tools and 12 courses were revised to ensure that training products remained innovative. ATA conducted a total of 17 assessments in FY 2013 looking at the ATA program in a given country, from policy and strategy to implementation and operations.
ATA capacity building over the course of several years paid dividends in a number of areas in FY 2013, including the creation of the Philippine National Police’s Anti-Cyber Group and the formation of special marine police units in Tanzania that have institutionalized ATA counterterrorism training. In addition,
ATA-trained Lebanese bomb squad members used their training to successfully respond to and investigate explosives incidents around the country, thus saving the lives of innocent civilians.
Counterterrorism Engagement (CTE):
The CTE program builds political will among foreign officials and civil societies and helps multilateral organizations promote more effective policies and programs. In FY 2013, CTE implemented $15.5 million of NADR/CTE and NADR/ATA funds. Funding supported the activities and initiatives of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF).
CTE funding strengthens U.S. engagement at the UN and other multilateral and regional organizations. CTE-funded activities included: a project to strengthen the capacity of judicial authorities to cooperate effectively in terrorism cases; a partnership with APEC on a public bus antiterrorism program focused on attacks against mass transportation systems; an OSCE developed guide on protecting
non-nuclear energy infrastructure from terrorist cyber attacks; and an OAS developed mobile cyber laboratory that is being used throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Terrorist Interdiction Program (TIP):
Through the TIP/Personal Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation System (TIP/PISCES), $39.876 million in NADR/TIP funds expanded capabilities at 210 ports of entry (POEs) in 21 countries, including biometric equipment upgrades at 85 POEs. Chad, Burkina Faso, and the Maldives became the newest partner countries. In Kenya, 13 POEs were upgraded and 281 officers were trained. In Burkina Faso, TIP/PISCES hardware was installed at Ouagadougou Airport and 105 officers were trained. Worldwide, TIP/PISCES processed an estimated 250,000 travelers daily.
Countering Violent Extremism (CVE):
CVE aims to deny terrorist organizations new recruits and reduce support for violent extremism by: (1) providing positive alternatives to those most at risk of recruitment; (2) countering terrorist narratives; and (3) building the capacity of partner nations and civil society to counter violent extremism.
Most CVE programming uses Economic Support Funds (ESF) or NADR authorities, with $7 million implemented in FY 2013 ($5 million ESF, $2 million NADR). In FY 2013, four NADR/ATA-funded CVE Local Grant Program (LGP) projects brought together vulnerable youth with positive influencers in their communities, primarily law enforcement.
In FY 2013 ESF funds were used for the following: an African diaspora NGO from the United States began an outreach and training tour in 2013 among its sister diaspora communities, a project in East Africa to counter the narratives and recruitment tactics of al-Shabaab through a workshop and concert series, and a media campaign promoting peace and nonviolence among at-risk youth. The events were attended by 6,000 people. Funds were also used to continue supporting a global network of women committed to countering violent extremism in their communities, and sensitizing women to the role they can play in developing strategies to counter terrorism.
Counterterrorist Finance (CTF) Training:
In FY 2013, CTF funded $15 million in capacity-building programs. In Panama, Bangladesh, Kenya, Algeria, Turkey and UAE, NADR/CTF-funded Resident Legal Advisors (RLAs) from the Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training (DOJ/OPDAT) continued to provide technical assistance in the areas of developing legal frameworks to counter terrorism and terrorist financing, organized crime, corruption, and financial crimes. The assistance of the RLAs in Bangladesh and Kenya, for example, resulted in the enactment of counterterrorism laws in both countries, and the Turkish Parliament revised its counterterrorism legislation with the help of the RLA to partially address deficiencies identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). DOJ also deployed subject matter experts to a number of countries to assist them in drafting laws and regulations on seizing, confiscating, and forfeiture of illicit proceeds and monies linked to terrorist financiers and terrorist organizations.
Other implementers who received NADR/CTF funding included: the Department of Treasury, who conducted several analytical exchanges with foreign financial intelligence units; the FDIC also conducted a series of regionally-based courses on financial regulatory management; the Internal Revenue Service taught forensic accounting and investigative techniques used to examine financial records to uncover hidden assets; the FBI conducted international training in countering terrorist financing, money laundering, financial fraud, and complex financial crimes; and DHS conducted capacity building efforts through cross-border financial investigations training and advisor programs that provided foreign partners with the capability to effectively implement relevant FATF Recommendations.
Regional Strategic Initiative (RSI):
Since terrorists operate across ungoverned or undergoverned border areas, the RSI was developed to encourage Ambassadors and their Country Teams to develop regional approaches to counterterrorism. In FY 2013, RSI funds supported programs that included: border security initiatives in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Maghreb; the Uganda Police Force Community Policing Outreach program; the anti-kidnapping for ransom (KFR) workshops for countries of the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership; and a series of workshops implemented by or in coordination with OPDAT. OPDAT training through RSI engaged governments in the Maghreb and Sahel through financial, security, law enforcement, rule of law, and other trainings to ensure that al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb does not benefit from kidnapping for ransoms.
Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) Threat Reduction:
In FY 2013, $10 million in NADR Conventional Weapons Destruction 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. Since the program's inception in FY 2003, these efforts have led to the reduction of over 33,500 MANPADS in 38 countries and the improved security of thousands more MANPADS.
The Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism (WMDT) Program:
In FY 2013, WMDT received $5.468 million in NADR funding for projects that improved international capabilities to prevent, detect, and respond to radiological and 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 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 focused best practices guidelines and encouraging collaboration between partner countries through tabletop exercises, workshops, and other activities. PNSP projects ranged from improving abilities to successfully prosecuting smugglers, enhancing nuclear forensics capabilities, securing vulnerable material through orphan source amnesty projects, strengthening smuggling response protocols, and supporting border security.
The Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program:
In FY 2013, CTR received $63.5 million in FY 2013 NADR Global Threat Reduction funding for efforts to prevent terrorists and proliferating states from acquiring WMD-related expertise, materials, technologies, and equipment. CTR implements the only U.S. chemical security program aimed at securing weaponizable chemicals abroad, bolstering partner state capacity to detect and disrupt to potential chemical plots, and promoting safe and responsible scientific practices for chemical professionals. Additionally, CTR seeks to reduce the risk that non-state actors or proliferant states could develop an improvised nuclear device by promoting a self-sufficient nuclear security culture, ingrained in partner country’s nuclear technical communities by encouraging responsible science and nuclear security-related best practices.
Justice Sector and Rule of Law:
Some of the projects in this section were funded from Department of State accounts listed earlier in this report.
The Counterterrorism Unit (CTU) from the DOJ 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. In FY 2013, the CTU received $13.1 million in NADR (CTE, CVE, and CTF) funding from the Department to conduct programming, including RLAs, to increase host government capacity to effectively investigate and prosecute terrorism-related crimes.
In FY 2013, the Department provided $1.6 million in NADR/ATA/RSI funding for DOJ’s Investigative Training Assistance Program’s (ICITAP) program in Algeria. The multi-year funded program provides assistance in the areas of forensics, criminal investigations, and border security. ICITAP continued to focus on the design and delivery of a comprehensive police counterterrorism assistance program to the Algerian Gendarmerie Nationale, and plans to have a border security advisor in-country to assess and assist the Algerian government institutions working on border security issues.
ICITAP continued to implement the $1.9 million in NADR/ATA funds provided in FY 2012 for a multi-year/multi-country program starting in Indonesia and the Philippines, to field a full-time corrections advisor to address
counterterrorism-related prison reform issues. In Indonesia, ICITAP coordinated with the Directorate General for Corrections and provided Terrorist Management Guidelines and Emergency Response Team training for the correctional staff at two pilot prisons. ICITAP is also working with UNICRI to design and build CVE programs for terrorist inmates at the pilot prisons. In the Philippines, ICITAP will deliver Correctional Leadership Skills training to senior officers of the Bureau of Corrections and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
