U.S. Counterterrorism Update
Royce Schedules Thursday Hearing to Examine
National Strategy for Combating Terrorism 

BACKGROUND: The threat posed by transnational terrorist organizations is evolving as traditional terrorist organization structures are rapidly being replaced by less formal networks of small independent terrorist groups and cells. In the past, actions taken against terrorist groups were focused on the removal of central leaders and the dismantlement of the organization as a whole. However, terrorism today has evolved into an ideology, and U.S. strategies should reflect this change. Terrorist groups, such as al-Qaeda, are no longer based upon a centralized structure; instead, the ideas espoused by these groups have become the basis of a militant extremist “movement.” The National Strategy for Combating Terrorism, released in 2003, outlines the Bush Administration’s goals and policies. The Strategy focuses on the “four D’s”: defeating terrorists and their organizations; denying sponsorship, support and sanctuary to terrorists; diminishing underlying social, economic and political conditions that terrorists seek to exploit; and defending U.S. citizens’ interests at home and abroad. Critics of the current Strategy argue that, while the U.S. has had fair success in dismantling the formal al-Qaeda network, insufficient attention has been paid to countering the underlying fundamentalist ideology fueling terrorism. This hearing is a continuance of the Subcommittee’s September 29^th hearing and will retain a focus on the broad questions which face the United States as it develops its evolving counterterrorism strategy, in addition to addressing the significance of recent developments, like the declassified Ayman al-Zawahiri letter.  

WHAT:                             Subcommittee Oversight Hearing:
                                          U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy Update
                                          Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation
                                          U.S. Rep. Edward R.  Royce (R-CA), Chairman

WHEN:                             10:30 a.m., Thursday, October 27, 2005

WHERE:                           Room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building

WITNESSES:                   Henry A. Crumpton,
                                          Ambassador-at-Large, Coordinator for Counterterrorism,
                                          Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism,
                                          U.S. Department of State.