[ Table of Contents | Next Section ]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

ATTACKING TERRORIST NETWORKS AT HOME AND ABROAD

Since September 11, 2001, the United States, with the help of its allies and partners, has dismantled the repressive Taliban, denied al-Qaida a safe haven in Afghanistan, and defeated Saddam Hussein’s regime. Actions at home and abroad have produced the following results:

• Of the senior al-Qaida leaders, operational managers, and key facilitators the U.S. government has been tracking, nearly two-thirds have been taken into custody or killed.
• The Department of Justice has charged over 260 individuals uncovered in the course of terrorist investigations, and convicted or secured guilty pleas from over 140 individuals. The U.S. government has disrupted alleged terrorist cells in Buffalo, Seattle, Portland, Detroit, North Carolina and Tampa.
• Terror networks have lost access to nearly $200 million.

SECURING THE HOMELAND

The creation of the Department of Homeland Security and its work with other departments and agencies have expanded our intelligence and law enforcement capabilities, improved information sharing, and facilitated the quick dissemination of threat-related information to the front lines. The homeland is markedly more secure than two years ago due to these and other initiatives:

• The Administration is working to create "Smart Borders", facilitating the rapid flow of legitimate commerce and people while detecting terrorists and their weapons before they enter the United States.
• The Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) has been established, integrating and analyzing terrorism threat-related information collected domestically and abroad, ensuring that intelligence and law enforcement entities are working in common purpose.
• The USA PATRIOT Act provides authorities that strengthen law enforcement’s abilities to prevent, investigate and prosecute acts of terror, facilitating Department of Justice efforts to thwart potential terrorist activity throughout the United States.

STRENGTHENING AND SUSTAINING
THE INTERNATIONAL FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM

Over 170 nations continue to participate in the war on terrorism by taking terrorists into custody, freezing terrorist assets and providing military forces and other support. International organizations are also adapting to meet the threat. Additionally, there have been numerous steps taken to eliminate underlying circumstances that foster terrorism:

• Actions taken by the G-8 will enhance transport security, expand counterterrorism training and assistance, and help reduce the threat of surface-to-air missiles to civil aviation.
• Along with our partners, we are providing aid for humanitarian assistance and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. Along with initiatives to foster economic growth and development throughout the world, this will deny terrorists recruits and safe havens.

The United States and its allies have made great progress in the global war on terrorism, but victory will only occur through the sustained efforts of a global coalition. We must remain on the offensive, preemptively stopping terrorists seeking to do harm against the United States, its citizens and partners, and creating an international environment inhospitable to terrorism.




  

[ Table of Contents | Next Section ]