19 December 2001

U.S. Submits Counter-terrorism Report to UN

United Nations -- Complying with a UN Security Council anti-terrorism resolution, the United States December 19 submitted a detailed report on its efforts to fight terrorism by cutting off financing to terrorist groups and their activities.

The report was mandated by resolution 1373, passed September 28, 2001. It requires nations, among other things, to criminalize terrorist activities, freeze the funds and financial assets of terrorists and their supporters, ban others from making funds available to terrorists, and deny safe haven to terrorists. The resolution set up a committee to monitor implementation. The committee, which has been called the Counter-terrorism Committee, set December 27 as the deadline for states to submit an initial report on what they have done to comply with the resolution.

The United States objectives are similar to those of the counter-terrorism resolution, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said at a press conference announcing the report. "They are, first of all, to prompt other nations to take aggressive actions against terrorists, to increase the capabilities of all nations in fighting the war against international terrorism, and to improve global cooperation so that member states can counter the threat of international terrorism in a sustained and effective manner for years to come."

The 24-page report details the most important actions by the United States since the September 11 terrorist attacks, the ambassador said, "but we intend to do even more in the months and years to come to insure that we have taken all appropriate measures."

It describes a number steps that the United States has undertaken in addition to freezing the assets of terrorists and their supporters. They include tracking down terrorists already in the United States, enhancing measures to deny entry to other terrorists, sharing information with other law enforcement agencies, meeting with multilateral groups and regional organizations, creating an interagency Financial Investigation Group to examine financial arrangements used to support terrorist attacks, designing a new tamper-resistance US visa, and intensifying border discussions with Canada and Mexico.

"This report represents only an initial, but important and indispensable step in what is likely to be a painstaking process of building an international consensus on practical ways of dealing with international terrorism on a global basis," the ambassador said.

The United States also stands ready "to provide assistance to states seeking to improve their abilities to combat terrorism," Negroponte said. "We are preparing a compendium of available United States technical assistance which we will submit to the Counter-terrorism Committee shortly for dissemination to all member states."

Some of the U.S. anti-terrorism actions were planned before September 11, but the terrorist attacks prompted the executive and legislative branches of the government to move quickly to set policy, the ambassador said.

Negroponte, who is the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, highlighted President Bush's executive order 13224 as a key U.S. weapon in blocking terrorist financing and example of what other nations can do to fight terrorism. The order blocks all property and interests of persons committing, or posing a significant risk of committing, terrorist attacks threatening the United States or U.S. nationals.

Ambassador Ted McNamara, who is coordinating the U.S. response to resolution 1373, pointed out that the resolution is "trying to increase the level of competence and capability of all nations, including the United States, and increase the cooperation so that, when a nation decides that it wishes to take action against terrorists or terrorism or a terrorist organization, it is capable of doing it."

Many nations, including the United States, don't have the capacity to respond alone to terrorist threats, McNamara said. "But by getting together we can raise...the overall level of that capacity," he said. "That is what 1373 is all about. It is not about list-making; it's not about declaring war. There are other resolutions to do that. (Resolution) 1373 is about raising the capability of the international community to respond to a threat to international peace and security."

Neither the United States nor the United Nations has a "timetable" for each step in the war against terrorism, the ambassador said. Nevertheless, there are a number of things that need to be done.

For example, the United States still has implementing legislation dealing with two terrorism treaties it has signed but not ratified, McNamara said. "We're also increasing the number and kinds of international exchanges of information -- intelligence and law enforcement and other information -- with respect to global terrorist organizations and terrorists themselves," he said. "That needs to be increased. There are mechanisms we are trying to put in place to enable us to more fully fulfill 1373's injunction that states cooperate more fully."

McNamara also cited the Organization of American States, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and African regional groups for highlighting terrorism at upcoming meetings.