The Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies held its “International Cooperation in Combating Terrorism: Review of 2015 and Outlook for 2016” on Monday at the National Press Club, featuring a panel of experts from the Blue Ribbon Panel who warned that bioterrorism remains a growing threat.
Tom Ridge, the first assistant to the president for Homeland Security and the former first secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said that not only is bioterrorism a threat but that it continues to grow and the U.S. is not ready to fight it.
Ridge said that the U.S. is woefully ill-prepared for either a bioterror attack or a pandemic, which often has the same impact.
“We need to build better infrastructure to respond and recover,” Ridge said.
In addition to preparing for the event of an attack, Ridge warned, the U.S. must also look to the cyber security of information about bioterror threats.
“How do we know if someone working with pathogens is actually working to help mankind or to do great damage to the world?” Ridge said. “The interface between the digital threat and the bio-threat” is significant. We don’t know how [most companies] are storing digital data on pathogens…We need more incentives for companies to store their data carefully.”
During his opening remarks at the event, Michael Swetnam, CEO and chairman of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, agreed that the threat of terrorism is growing.
“For the past 18 years, Potomac Institute has been foremost institute in world for counter-terrorism,” Swetnam said. “After 18 years of looking at the issue, I can say the situation is improving. Unfortunately, the threat is growing. Our grandchildren will have to deal with this issue.”
To effectively fight terrorism, though, the U.S. first needs to identify its source to “find opportunities to undermine those who use terrorism,” Lieutenant General Vincent R. Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, said.
Stewart said that defining the enemy is the first step to fighting terrorism. Because of this uncertainty, and because of the nature of terrorism, some entities also act in the capacity of what Stewart called a “quasi-state” agent of terror that has a quasi-military force and state-like features, including an executive, as well as a set of laws. These groups also build and maintain armies and have been recognized by other nations as a state.
As a result of the structure of these terror organizations, as well as other nations recognizing them as states, Stewart said that the U.S. must keep an eye on how foreign money, including money given to Iran in a recent deal, is invested and how business is conducted.
“We do not know yet how Iran will invest its $100 billion,” Stewart said. “We will not take our eyes off this threat.
“Military action alone is not sufficient,” Stewart added. “We must think about how we do business. We must form strategic partnerships. We must adapt and posture for the future.”
An all-inclusive fight against terrorism is needed, Stewart said, with the Defense Intelligence Agency managing its intelligence operation from end-to-end.
“Our goal is to take the DIA…to an agency that thinks and acts” as a fully integrated agency, Stewart said.