[Congressional Record: April 12, 2011 (Extensions)]
[Page E695-E696]
INTRODUCTION OF THE TEAM B ACT
______
HON. FRANK R. WOLF
of virginia
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Team B Act to
confront the growing challenge of domestic radicalization and homegrown
terrorist attacks. I believe that we must take a fresh look at how we
can thwart domestic radicalization.
I have been concerned about and been following the issue of radical
Islamic terrorism for nearly 3 decades. I visited the Marine barracks
in Lebanon following the 1983 bombing that killed 241 American
servicemen.
I closely followed the issue of terrorism with the first attack on
the World Trade Center in 1993 and throughout the 1990s with the deadly
attacks against our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, where yet another
of my constituents was killed.
As a result, in 1998 I authored legislation creating the National
Commission on Terrorism, also known as the Bremer Commission, and
highlighted the threat from Osama bin Laden in my introductory
remarks--years before many in our government fully understood the
danger he posed.
I was the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that
funds the FBI and Justice Department on September 11, 2001, and I
worked closely with Director Mueller and his leadership team from 2002
to 2006 to transform its mission to deal with the terrorist threat.
I am now again chairman of that subcommittee and receive regular
briefings on terrorism and the new and growing threat posed
[[Page E696]]
by domestic radicalization and frequently visit the National
Counterterrorism Center, which is located in my district.
According to the Congressional Research Service, there have been 43
``homegrown jihadist terrorist plots and attacks since 9/11,''
including 22 plots or attacks since May 2009.
Director Mueller and the men and women of the FBI should be commended
for their exceptional work in intercepting would-be terrorists before
their attacks. They work tirelessly to protect our country and their
record over the last decade speaks for itself.
But despite the FBI's success at disrupting plots under way, the U.S.
does not have an effective or coherent policy to prevent domestic
radicalization. According to a recent report by respected
counterterrorism experts called Assessing the Terrorist Threat:
``The American melting pot'' has not provided a firewall
against the radicalization and recruitment of American
citizens and residents, though it has arguably lulled us into
a sense of complacency that homegrown terrorism couldn't
happen in the United States . . . By not taking more urgently
and seriously the radicalization and recruitment that was
actually occurring in the U.S., authorities failed to
comprehend that this was not an isolated phenomenon . . .
Rather, it indicated the possibility that even an embryonic
terrorist radicalization and recruitment infrastructure had
been established in the U.S. homeland.
That is why I am introducing this legislation to create a ``Team B''
to bring fresh eyes to U.S. domestic radicalization and
counterterrorism strategy. The team would represent a new approach,
which focuses not just on connecting the dots of intelligence, but to
rethink the nature of threats to stay a step ahead in understanding how
to break the radicalization and recruitment cycle that sustains
terrorism, how to disrupt the global terrorist network and how to
strategically isolate it.
During the Ford administration, then-CIA director George H.W. Bush
created a ``Team B'' composed of outside experts to reexamine
intelligence relating to Soviet capabilities. Their conclusions were
markedly different than those reached by agency officials. Many of
their assessments were used in the Reagan administration to deal with
the Soviets--ultimately leading to the end of the Cold War.
Today, our intelligence community and federal law enforcement are so
inundated with reports and investigations that they do not have the
time or capacity to step back and strategically reevaluate the threat
before us.
I believe a ``Team B'' would provide a tremendous service to both the
agencies and the Congress in making recommendations on how we can
disrupt domestic radicalization.
For more than a year, I have written numerous letters to the
President and members of his national security team urging them to
implement this proposal. They have not.
As respected Georgetown University professor Dr. Bruce Hoffman wrote
for The National Interest in October 2010:
The logic behind Congressman Wolf's idea is simple and
makes eminent sense. Since both the U.S. intelligence
community and our national security and law-enforcement
agencies are overwhelmed with data, information and a
multiplicity of immediate ``in-box''-driven issues that
continually challenge their ability to think both
strategically and in terms of a patently evolving, dynamic,
multidimensional threat, the red team concept would represent
a new approach to counterterrorism that would potentially
enable the United States to stay one step ahead of our
adversaries' own strategy and tactics.
First, it would have a broader remit than the red team
exercises currently employed by individual agencies.
Congressman Wolf's idea is that this red team would have a
strategic counterterrorism mandate and would therefore look
at general, global patterns of terrorism rather than the use
and effects of individual tactics.
Second, it would be composed of nongovernment specialists
and experts representing a broad array of different
perspectives, backgrounds and opinions--the type of
``glorious amateurs'' described by General Donovan who once
populated the OSS but who would now be enlisted in the war on
terrorism.
Under Congressman Wolf's formulation, these persons would
advise and help inform the assessments of both the National
Intelligence Council (NIC) and Office of the Director of
National Intelligence by providing broad strategic analysis
of terrorism trends and patterns and their possible future
implications. In this manner, alternative assessments and
strategic counterterrorism analysis could be provided to the
Intelligence Community that would also help to avoid ``group
think.''
Mr. Speaker, for these reasons I believe this legislation would be a
constructive step to address the evolving terrorist threat and I urge
my colleagues to support it.
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