I was very fortunate to get a seat at the
ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security's breakfast meeting with Michael Leiter, Director of the
National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) at the
University Club last week.
For background, NCTC's mission is to: "Lead our nation's effort to combat terrorism at home and abroad by analyzing the threat, sharing that information with our partners, and integrating all instruments of national power to ensure unity of effort." To that end, NCTC brings together professionals from the intelligence community, the military, federal law enforcement, disaster preparedness, and state and local law enforcement. NCTC was initially created by Executive Order, but was formally created by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA), which implemented many of the reforms suggested in the 9/11 Commission Report.
Basically, Mr. Leiter focused on:
1) The foreign and domestic intelligence divide (more specifically, the reduction of the walls in the operations community, while they remain in the legal community),
2) Information sharing across government and with state and local authorities,
3) Consequences of visualizing the U.S. counterterrorism mission as a "war" or as a "struggle,"
4) The concept that we cannot ensure perfect safety, but we can do our utmost and be as prepared as possible to preempt attacks and to mitigate consequences.
On the first point, the Director noted that NCTC makes no distinction between foreign and domestic intelligence in making its threat assessments. All threats are taken seriously and analyzed across agencies and disseminated to relevant agency heads as needed. Further, NCTC has created game plans for a vast spectrum of events or attacks. These flexible plans include integrated offensive and defensive counterterrorism operations.
With regard to information sharing, the Director said there are no longer any walls between intelligence, military, law enforcement, and diplomatic agencies with regard to counterterrorism. NCTC is a fusion center where the 19 pertinent federal agencies participate in an interagency conference call three times a day, 365 days a year, in order to better share terrorism related information. Mention was also given to the role of state and local government at NCTC, particularly as regards law enforcement and emergency preparedness. The Director also mentioned that terror watch lists are now integrated and serve as a valuable tool in leveraging local law enforcement into the fight against terrorism.
As for visualizing U.S. counterterrorism efforts as a war or as a struggle, the Director mentioned the vitally important requirement of our National Implementation Plan for integrated effort which calls for all elements of national power to work in concert. The Director called for a strategy of "Think Globally, Act Locally" in which the U.S. can productively address local issues that may lead individuals to pursue a "global jihad." He noted that NCTC is actively investigating "root causes" of terrorism at home and abroad, and made a revealing comment that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is NCTC's key ally in attaining an alignment of government resources for root cause removal.
The Director's final point was that no President can guarantee perfect safety for the American people. He noted that everyone at NCTC goes to work with a "September 12, 2001" mindset, so that the American people don't have to.
Lastly, the Director discussed the role he believes the American public should play in countering terrorism. He said that it is the public's responsibility to compel the government to make wise policy decisions, not to tear down the infrastructure in the wake of an attack.
I am grateful for Mr. Leiter and all of the hardworking men and women at NCTC who work to stop the next attack, before it happens.
- AB
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