*EPF302 03/01/00
Text: Albright Before House Appropriations Panel on FY-2001 Budget
(Says she may create new Under Secretary of State position) (1270)
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told a House Appropriations Subcommittee March 1 that the State Department has "substantially accelerated the replacement and repair of higher-risk embassies and consulates.
"We have hired new security personnel, enhanced perimeter security, and instituted an effective new surveillance detection program at most of our posts," said Albright.
She told the panel that "as threats against U.S. interests change, we must ensure our ability to meet them. These challenges include not only terrorism, but also organized crime, drug cartels, money laundering, cyber-crime and espionage."
As a result, Albright said, "I will explore creating the position of Under Secretary of State for Security, Counterterrorism and Law Enforcement."
In preparation for that, she said she was directing Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security David Carpenter "to lead a review of the Department's structure for addressing these issues and to make recommendations for a more effective organization."
Following is the State Department text, as prepared for delivery:
(begin text)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
As Prepared for Delivery
March 1, 2000
Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright's
Opening Remarks Before House Appropriations Committee,
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State,
March 1, 2000
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee. Over the past seven years, I have testified before you many times. It is always a pleasure and I think a productive one, for we have accomplished much by working together.
In prior years, I have summarized my written statement in order to allow plenty of time for questions. This year, with your permission, I will summarize my summary.
The President's budget request for Fiscal Year 2001 is essentially for current services, with significant increases only for security and UN peacekeeping.
For State program accounts, we are seeking a little under $3.2 billion, primarily for Diplomatic and Consular Programs.
This reflects our successful reorganization, and our effort to make effective use of limited personnel resources. It will also enable us to further upgrade our communications and further improve the customer services provided by our Consular Affairs Bureau.
The President's request for Embassy Security and Construction is a little more than $1 billion for next year and $3.5 billion in advanced appropriations through 2005. These requests are vital and I urge your support for them.
One of the most depressing charts I have seen shows our foreign building appropriations from 1983 until the present. There is a spike at one end to reflect the aftermath of the embassy bombings in Beirut. There are spikes at the other end reflecting the embassy bombings in Africa and our subsequent joint efforts to increase resources. In between is a virtual flat line.
Together, we must ensure that such a lull never happens again. Fortunately, with the President's leadership and your help, we have substantially accelerated the replacement and repair of higher-risk embassies and consulates.
We have hired new security personnel, enhanced perimeter security, and instituted an effective new surveillance detection program at most of our posts. And I have asked David Carpenter, our Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security, to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the Department's security practices and procedures.
This is good, but not sufficient. As the threats against U.S. interests change, we must ensure our ability to meet them. These challenges include not only terrorism, but also organized crime, drug cartels, money laundering, cyber-crime and espionage.
In this environment, security must always be a priority, and we must respond in a comprehensive manner to threats both old and new.
To this end, I will explore creating the position of Under Secretary of State for Security, Counterterrorism and Law Enforcement. In preparation, I am directing Assistant Secretary Carpenter to lead a review of the Department's structure for addressing these issues and to make recommendations for a more effective organization. In so doing, he will consult closely with Mike Sheehan, our Counterterrorism Coordinator, and other senior officials.
Our goals, in keeping with the recommendations of the Crowe and Kaden panels, are to clarify lines of authority, improve coordination, and assure that a single high-ranking officer can speak for the Department on security questions.
Mr. Chairman, many of the international problems and threats we face require the cooperation of others. One means we use to secure such cooperation is through the UN and other international organizations.
I ask your support again this year for our CIO account, which pays our share of the costs of the organizations in which we participate.
And I ask your backing for our FY 2001 and emergency supplemental requests for UN peacekeeping. As the Subcommittee knows, UN peace operations provide America with a vital third option between simply walking away from destabilizing conflicts, and intervening ourselves.
This year, we especially need your support for four relatively new operations.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, an observer mission has been authorized to monitor and assist in implementing parts of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement.
In Sierra Leone, the UN is helping to implement a peace agreement ending a brutal civil war.
In East Timor, the UN is leading an international effort to maintain order, enable refugees to return and prepare the region for independence.
And in Kosovo, the UN is a partner with KFOR in laying the groundwork for democracy, based on increased tolerance and respect for the rule of law.
Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, I want to emphasize how important it is that you support the President's supplemental and FY 2001 funding requests for these and other UN peace operations.
The choice is stark. We can walk away from conflicts and suffering in Africa, the Balkans and East Timor, or we can do our part to address them. No one is asking America to bear the lion's share of the burden in any of these places.
With the Subcommittee's help, we have worked hard to make UN peace operations more efficient and effective. Ambassador Holbrooke and I are doing all we can to persuade our counterparts to reduce our official assessment for peacekeeping missions. For years, we have briefed you monthly on every development related to these operations. The United States voted for each of them.
I will speak plainly. Failure to support these necessary funding requests would reduce our international standing at a critical time. It would diminish prospects for peace and democracy in areas that have been ravaged by conflict and where people look to us for help. It would do grave damage to the instrument of UN peacekeeping, and thereby place even greater pressure on our own armed forces. And it would undermine our diplomatic effort to reduce U.S. assessments.
So I urge you to support the President's requests and help us to help the UN preserve and build peace. That is the right vote for own interests, and for the values our citizens cherish.
Before concluding, I want the Subcommittee to know that I enthusiastically support the bipartisan initiative now underway to name the State Department building in honor of former President Harry Truman. This is appropriate because the Truman name is synonymous with strong leadership. And strong leadership is what American foreign policy is all about. Mr. Chairman, in the weeks ahead, I am sure that we will have differences over details. But I very much hope that we will have the support of every member of the Subcommittee for the fundamental objectives of our budget request. Thank you, and now I look forward to your questions.
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