Combating terrorism

Against the background of international terrorism which is assuming increasing severity, one country's efforts to combat terrorism have limits. In view of this, terrorism is often debated actively at the summit meetings of industrialized countries or at the United Nations conferences in recent years. At the same time, cooperation among countries is being pushed vigorously. The 1978 Bonn Summit adopted a Statement on Air-Hijacking upon a proposal from Japan. This was the first statement concerning terrorism ever issued in the history of the summit meetings of industrialized countries. Japan made this proposal in view of the mounting threat of terrorism in the world posed by the Japanese Red Army's "Dacca Incident" in 1977 and other incidents. Since then, almost every summit meeting has taken up terrorism as one of the important issues on the agenda, and issued a statement concerning terrorism. As for the United Nations, in view of frequent occurrence of terrorist incidents, the 27th General Assembly in 1972 took up and debated the measures to prevent international terrorism and its root causes. Since then, the problem of terrorism has been discussed mainly by the Sixth Committee of the U.N. General Assembly. At the 49th General Assembly held in 1994, the "Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism" was adopted.

As is evident from the above, in the field of measures to combat global terrorism, an international consensus was formed "to condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, regardless of its perpetrators or motives," and extensive and concrete measures are being taken to prevent terrorism with cooperation of all countries, including developing countries.

(2) Summit Ministerial Conference on Terrorism (Ottawa)

Following the Halifax Summit in 1995, the Summit Ministerial Conference on Terrorism was held in Ottawa, the capital city of Canada, in December 1995, with interior, justice and foreign ministers of the Summit member countries attending. On the basis of recognition that measures to prevent terrorism constitute an urgent problem to be grappled with on a global scale, the "Ottawa Ministerial Declaration on Terrorism" was adopted.

(3) Sharm-el-Sheikh (Peace Makers') Summit

In view of the mounting tension in the Middle East, the Middle East countries, the Summit member countries, and other countries together with international organizations, totaling 29, held a "Sharm-el-Sheikh Summit" (Peace Makers' Summit) at the initiative of Egyptian President Mubarak and U.S. President Clinton. At this summit, each country's determination to make efforts to combat terrorist activities and exterminate support to terrorists as well as all countries' determination to make stepped-up efforts to promote peace in the Middle East were manifested in the Co-Chairmen's Statement.

(4) G7/P8 Ministerial Conference on Terrorism (Paris)

In view of the fact that "Dhahran U.8. military facility bombing" occurred in Saudi Arabia just before the Lyon Summit was opened in June 1996, the Lyon Summit adopted the "Declaration on Terrorism. The declaration reaffirmed "absolute condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. " Based on this declaration, the G7/P8 Ministerial Conference on Terrorism was convened in Paris in July 1996, and it adopted a 25 practical measures centering on "adopting internal measures to prevent terrorism" and "strengthening international cooperation to fight terrorism" in order to speed up conclusion of conventions to combat terrorism and to control the fund raising of terrorists.

(5) Denver Summit

The Denver Summit was held June 20-22, 1997, in Colorado, the U.S. Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto manifested anew a strong determination to fight terrorism jointly with the international society, saying that "we will never give way to terrorists." Hashimoto strongly called attention to the need to strengthen cooperation among P8 member countries of the summit meeting as well as to the importance of regional cooperation in taking measures on terrorism. With the seizure of the Japanese Ambassador's Residence in Peru in mind, Prime Minister Hashimoto proposed to hold an expert meeting on terrorism mainly against hostage taking incidents.

On June 22, the Denver Summit issued a communique which reconfirmed the resolve to combat terrorism of all forms and requested all countries to join the international counterterrorism conventions by the year 2000. Incorporated in the communique were measures to deter terrorists' use of mass destruction materials and their attack on electronic and computer infrastructure as measures to be taken by all countries to prevent terrorism.

On the basis of proposals from Japan, the communique also refers to the efforts to strengthen the capability of hotage negotiation experts and counterterrorism response units.

2. Measures To Prevent Terrorism Currently Taken in Japan

(1)

Round-up of Terrorists and Grappling with Measures To Forestall Terrorism

In order to enforce measures to combat various forms of terrorism, the Japanese police have sent, since early on, officers overseas to exchange information with relevant authorities of various countries and vigorously engage in information gathering activities in an attempt to gain a true picture of movements of international terrorist groups, such as the Japanese Red Army.

In addition to measures to prevent entry of international terrorists into Japan, the Japanese police are vigorously promoting measures to prevent the smuggling. of arms and chemicals, that could be used as means of terrorism at seaports and airports, through cooperation with authorities concerned.

(2) Establishment of Special Assault Team (SAT)

On the occasion of the "Dacca Incident" perpetrated by the Japanese Red Army on September 28, 1977, the Japanese police established special units at the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the Osaka Prefectural Police. However, in order to properly cope with the situation which is increasingly serious in recent years, the Special Assault Team (SAT) was established at MPD, Osaka and five more prefectural police headquarters in April 1996.

The principal duty of SAT, established to properly deal with serious emergencies such as hijacking cases and holdout cases involving hostages, is to arrest the terrorists while ensuring safety of the victims of such grave incidents. SAT is team of highly trained specialists, and the SAT throughout the country have about 200 highly trained members in total.

(3)

International Support to Neasures to Combat Terrorism

The National Police Agency, since 1993, has invited officers in charge of terrorism mainly from developing countries as part of Japan's ODA program to acquaint them with antiterrorism measures as well as use of equipment and materials. Moreover, the agency is active in transferring the knowhow of filing and analyzing information and reference materials, and the technique of discovering bogus passports.

(4)

Measures to Ensure Safety of Japanese Residents Overseas

Because overseas operational bases of Japanese business corporations and their staffers stationed abroad very often fall victims to terrorist incidents in recent years, various organizations interest in measures to ensure safety of Japanese overseas is mounting. In such circumstances, the Council for Public Policy, with the cooperation of various organizations concerned, has sponsored since 1993 the Seminar on Security Measures for Overseas Japanese Companies in Bangkok (1993), Manila (1994), and Hong Kong (1995). In July 1996, Seminars in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur were held, and the National Police Agency cooperated with the sponsoring organizations of these seminars by sending lecturers to them.

(5) Active Participation in International Conferences

As for measures to combat global terrorism, concrete and broad in-depth measures, which have gone beyond the contents of international cooperation thus far discussed, have come to be studied in the United Nations fora and the summit meetings. Japanese police, as a member of the Japanese Government, are grappling with the promotion of international cooperation enthusiastically and powerfully.

A. Law Concerning the Prevention of Bodily Injuries by Sarin, etc. A series of incidents perpetrated by Aum Shinrikyo cult prompted the enactment and promulgation in April 1995 of a law which prohibits the manufacture and possession of sarin, etc. and stipulates punishments to be meted out on conducts to disseminate sarin and measures to be taken when damage is caused by the dissemination of sarin.

8. Partial Amendment of Police Law

In June 1996, the Police Law was partially revised to enable prefectural police. to exercise their authority in areas outside their borders on its own judgment and responsibility. The partially amended police law has made it possible for the Comissioner-General of the National Police Agency to issue instructions as regards the work-sharing among the prefectural police forces, so that the Japanese police as a whole can deal with wide-area organized crimes speedily and properly.

3. Japan's Future Measures Against Terrorism

(1)

Strengthening of Information Gathering and Analysis

Japanese police will make stepped-up efforts to quickly uncover groups which are likely to resort to terrorism in the future, and to promote gathering and analysis of more specialized and comprehensive information. Diplomatic missions overseas are urged to enhance their information gathering and security systems, while the police are required to contribute to the enhancement through security officers from the police at diplomatic legations overseas by intensifying coordination with local authorities and reinforcing security arrangements.'

In view of the lessons from the "seizure of the Japanese Ambassador's Residence in Peru, it is urgently necessary for the police to reinforce the Special

Assault Teams (SAT) so that cases similar to the Peru incident may be properly dealt with. Particularly, the police are urgently required to give thoroughgoing training to SAT members to upgrade their ability to cope with terrorism. Moreover, the police are urgently required to bolster the contingency preparedness of SATs stationed in seven prefectures around the country.

(3) Bolstering of Setup to Prevent Terrorism and Investigate Terrorists

To provide against outbreaks of terrorist incidents outside Japan, an arrangement has to be worked out to dispatch a team consisting of experts on measures to combat terrorism more speedily than now in case of emergency so that the dispatched team will operate effectively as the core of Japan's local liaison office in the country of incident. The team is required to establish cooperation with local authorities, gather information speedily and accurately, and engage in activities to provide support to investigation agencies of various countries. It is necessary for the expert team to exchange information with relevant authorities even during peace times, and study methods of investigation, hostage negotiation and prevention in order to provide against the outbreak of terrorist incidents.

Because the danger of new forms of terrorism, using biological and chemical substances, or hacking (cracking) computer systems, is mounting in recent years, it is urgently necessary to study measures to prevent terrorism of this kind and the method of investigating such cases.

(4) Making Efforts to Promote International Cooperation

International cooperation through international conferences and coordinative actions with authorities concerned is extremely important in combating terrorism. The Japanese police, as a member of the Japanese Government, are stepping up their efforts to promote international cooperation. At the Denver Summit of industrialized countries, Japan proposed to convene an expert meeting on counterterrorism measures mainly against hostage taking incidents. This conference was held in December 1997. Japan has resolved to take part in such international conferences positively also in the future.

In order to step up coordination with relevant authorities of various countries, in Asian-Pacific region in particular, Japan has resolved to promote exchange of information with officials of the United States, the Republic of Korea etc. to strengthen cooperation with ASEAN countries, and to build up closer relations with countries of Latin America, Europe and the Middle East through exchange of information and sharing of experiences.

(5)

Study of Legal System to Promote Counterterrorism Measures

As measures to combat organized crimes perpetrated by terrorist organizations, it is effective to control the fund raising by these organizations. The 25 practical measures adopted at the G7/P8 Ministerial Conference on Terrorism convened in Paris in July 1996, urges every country to take measures to deter flows of funds to terrorists and terrorist organizations and step up exchange of information on international transfer of funds to finance terrorist activities. They also urge to consider adoption of regulatory measures against flows of funds to terrorists. With these points in mind, the police, as part of measures to combat organized crimes, will further promote research and study on legal system to deprive terrorists of illegal proceeds and to restrict their conducts to evade the authorities' deprival of their illegal proceeds by taking into consideration systems put in force in other countries.

STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD

MITCHELL E. DANIELS, JR.
DIRECTOR

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET

TO THE

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM

SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY, VETERANS AFFAIRS, AND
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
AND THE

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Thank you for your invitation to attend the joint hearing on Combating Terrorism: Options to Improve the Federal Response. The Administration gives high priority to homeland defense issues, including efforts such as combating terrorism, weapons of mass destruction preparedness, and critical infrastructure protection. We must ensure that the federal government has a comprehensive strategy to counter these threats and that resources are directed against the highest priorities. The National Security Advisor has therefore launched a review of the way in which our government is organized to combat terrorism and of our preparedness against weapons of mass destruction. This review is in the final stages of completion.

The Administration will be pleased to brief the Committee on the findings of the review but until then, I must respectfully decline your invitation to provide comments on the three legislative proposals to reorganize the federal combating terrorism structure that the Committee is examining. I believe that the Administration should be given a reasonable amount of time to decide what changes it will make to existing terrorism preparedness coordinating mechanisms, if any. The Administration is maintaining - for the moment -- the existing framework of PDDs 62 and 63, which define the organization of the Federal combating terrorism effort and provide for its coordination by the National Security Council (NSC). Additional strategy guidance is currently provided by the Administration's Five-Year Counterterrorism and Technology Crime Plan, and the National Plan for Information Infrastructure Protection.

I expect that after we have examined the findings of the NSC review, the Administration may have several proposals for modifying the current organizational structure, programs, or budgets. At that time, we will also be able to provide our thoughts on any pieces of terrorism legislation under consideration by the Congress, including H.R. 525, H.R.1158, and H.R. 1292.

I agree with the Committee that the importance of these emerging threats and the extensive interdependence of agency programs to counter them require new approaches from the Administration and the Congress. Without a holistic approach to program management and funding, we risk underfunding these critical missions or poorly coordinating their various facets. We pledge to work closely with Congress to ensure the most effective allocation of resources possible against these threats.

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