U.S. Response:  Gilmore Commission Recommends Independent Intelligence Center

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The United States should create an independent center to coordinate intelligence related to potential terrorist attacks, a group of U.S. security experts recommended in a report released yesterday.

The experts issued the proposal in the fourth annual report of a congressionally mandated panel — the Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction — which is informally named the Gilmore Commission for its chairman, former Virginia Governor James Gilmore.  The defense think tank RAND provided analysis for the commission.

A national counterterrorism center could collect all intelligence information from foreign and domestic sources and disseminate it to U.S. agencies, state officials, local law enforcement and the private sector, the report says.  To aid in planning and allocating resources, the center could also assess the terrorist threat within the United States, the report says.

Workers from state and local agencies and the private sector should participate in the center “to reflect the anti-terrorism expertise developed in those areas,” the report says.  The commission recommended that the center be a distinct entity — separate from the FBI, CIA and the new Homeland Security Department — that would report directly to the president and would be overseen by the House and Senate Select Committees on Intelligence.  The center should have no “sanction” authority, such as arrest powers, which would still remain with the FBI and law enforcement agencies, the commission said.

“The FBI’s long-standing law enforcement tradition and organizational culture persuade us that, even with the best of intentions, the FBI cannot soon be transformed into an organization dedicated to detecting and preventing terrorist attacks,” the report says (see GSN, Nov. 12).  “It is also important to separate the intelligence collection function from the law enforcement function to avoid the impression that the U.S. is establishing a kind of ‘secret police,’” it says.

The commission issued additional policy recommendations in five areas:  organizing the national effort against terrorism, establishing an appropriate domestic role to the military, improving health and medical capabilities, improving defenses against agricultural terrorism, and better protecting infrastructure.

National Effort

The new Homeland Security Department should have the authority to direct intelligence collection efforts conducted by other agencies on its behalf, the commission said (see GSN, Nov. 25).  The president and Congress should work to define the responsibilities of the department and other U.S. agencies before, during and after a terrorist attack, especially the authority the department has over other U.S. agencies, the report says.  The department should also be the lead authority in the event of a terrorist attack involving biological weapons, it adds.

Domestic Military Role

The role of the U.S. Defense Department in responding to a domestic terrorist attack should be re-examined, the commission said.  Any domestic use of the military should be clearly regulated by civilian officials, it added.

“Coming through this crisis without diminishing our freedoms or our core values of individual liberty is the entire game,” Gilmore said in a RAND press release.  “If we pursue more security at the cost of what makes us Americans, the enemy will have won,” he added.

The use of the National Guard for domestic security also needs to be re-examined, the report says.  “Rules governing the Guard’s domestic operations limit the ways that the Guard could be used most effectively,” it says.

New rules should be created to allow the National Guard to conduct missions under the order of the president while remaining under the authority of state officials, the commission said, adding that states should be allowed to decline such deployments.  The Guard should also increase training, the report says, and the defense secretary should designate an exclusive homeland security mission to certain Guard units.

Health Capabilities

RAND researchers that polled several state and local emergency planning officials on behalf of the commission found that the officials are now better prepared to respond to a terrorist attack than they were before Sept. 11, 2001, according to the RAND release.  For example, prior to the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, one-third of polled hospital personnel had been trained in responding to injuries caused by weapons of mass destruction.  While this is up from the 5 percent reported in a survey before the attacks, more work needs to be done, the commission said (see GSN, Sept. 9).

To improve the U.S. public health system’s response to a terrorist attack, the Health and Human Services Department should continue to provide state and local public health agencies with $1 billion annually for the next five years. 

States should enact the Model Health Powers Emergency Act, which gives state officials certain powers in the event of a public health emergency, or similar legislation, the report says.  States should also work to implement laws that relate to WMD incidents, especially those incidents that require quarantine or emergency large-scale vaccination programs, it adds.

Agricultural Terrorism

In the report, the commission said the U.S. food supply could be vulnerable to terrorist attacks in ways not yet fully understood (see GSN, Sept. 20).  Such vulnerability has been largely ignored in terrorist prevention planning, the commission said, urging the United States to expand laboratory capability for testing food-borne diseases and animal pathogens.  The U.S. Agriculture Department should also develop programs to improve veterinary education to focus on terrorist attacks, the report says.

U.S. Infrastructure

Congress should create a national panel to develop strategies to better protect critical U.S. infrastructure such as power and water systems from a terrorist attack, the commission said (see GSN, Oct. 25).  The Homeland Security Department should assign a high priority to screening commercial aircraft cargo and securing dams and the aviation and computer industries, the commission said.  The White House should also create a single authority to manage policy development in such areas, the report says.

Senator Recommends New Intelligence Organization

Meanwhile, Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), an outgoing member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has called for creating an intelligence organization under a national intelligence director, the Washington Post reported today.  Under Shelby’s proposal, a separate service managing clandestine intelligence gathering operations would feed information into the new intelligence organization, the Post reported.

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International Response:  Maritime Organization Passes Security Upgrades

The International Maritime Organization Friday passed several amendments to protect international shipping from attack and prevent ports from being used to move weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, Dec. 6).

The amendments — signed by 108 countries and scheduled to come into effect in 2004 — include the installation of electronic ship identification devices and security assessments for ports in signatory countries.

“Until now, there has not been an internationally agreed framework in place for addressing security,” said Lee Adamson, public information manager for the IMO.

Preventive measures can only do so much and the key to shipping safety is good intelligence and cooperation among governments, said Ted Thompson, executive vice president for the International Council of Cruise Lines.

“Can you ask a building to try to prevent itself from being hit by an airplane?  No, you can’t,” Thompson said (Matthew Garrahan, Financial Times, Dec. 14).

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