Daily Alert Archives

Aiming at Deadly Weapons

(Washington Post) Saxby Chambliss and Jane Harman - Four steps are critical to building a better intelligence capability: Make counterterrorism and counterproliferation the highest priorities. Congress has provided for a large increase in the intelligence budget to address the threats from weapons of mass destruction. Improve intelligence collection regarding possible users of weapons of mass destruction. We must map terrorist and proliferation networks and all their financiers, suppliers, and weapons procurers; identify "black" and "gray" markets for illicit materials; and fully understand possible linkages to states. Make intelligence "actionable" - linked to the ability to move quickly to interdict and prevent. Our policymakers need solid, near-real-time information that can support operations to stop attacks and eliminate threats. Our intelligence and law enforcement officers and their foreign counterparts need more training, expertise, and capabilities to focus on warning signs that individuals or terrorist groups are seeking weapons of mass destruction. Build new offensive capabilities. We need better interdiction capabilities - to stop shipments of weapons materials to rogue states, to stop terrorist buyers from procuring materials or building laboratories, and to disrupt illicit research, development, and fielding of weapons technologies.
2002-12-17 00:00:00
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