Marine Corps News Release Release #: H32696
Division of Public Affairs, Headquarters, United States Marine Corps, Washington, DC 20380-1775 Commercial: (703) 614-7678/9 DSN: 224-7678/9 FAX: (703)697-5362
Date: 07/26/96 Story by Sgt. Eric Tausch
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE INCREASES FOCUS ON ANTI-TERRORISM MEASURES
HEADQUARTERS, U.S. MARINE CORPS, Washington, D.C. (July 19) -- Americans all over the world, not just the military, have lost some measure of personal security due to the threat of terrorism, Defense Secretary William J. Perry said Wednesday. "For most people, that's only a marginal decrease in security."
But for Marines on watch around the globe, and for the 19 U.S. service members killed by a truck bomb in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, last month, that decrease is more than marginal. To combat that threat, the DoD has stepped up the fight against terrorism by establishing the Force Protection Initiative.
"Some of it has been going on for years, but I'm putting a very sharp focus on it now," Secretary Perry said. The broad offensive covers essentially every country in the Central Command and a few countries in the European Command, and it may be extended to other countries in the future.
The initiative provides focus and energy to define needed changes in force protection, as well as begin those changes and monitor their implementation. It begins by asking questions as basic as, "Should we even keep our forces in countries where we believe the threat level is high?" and "Why are we there in the first place?"
Because terrorists are determined to reduce American presence in the Gulf region, the U.S. can anticipate future attacks.
To adequately defend against terrorist attacks on U.S. military personnel, Secretary Perry said the U.S. must be prepared for what he calls "weapons of mass destruction."
"I'm not talking about nuclear bombs. I'm talking about the use of chemical weapons or biological weapons, or very large bombs -- 5,000 to 20,000-pound bombs in trucks -- or mortars," he said. "All of these are technically possible ... and in an urban environment they become weapons of mass destruction."
According to Perry, the U.S. must also combat the floods of information and disinformation (deliberately planted wrong information) about the threat.
A key to winning this war, and going on the offensive, is getting "better intelligence on terrorist operations," according to Perry. He directed that DoD put together a plan with the CIA on forming a joint fusion cell in Saudi Arabia as a first step, focusing on terrorist and anti-terrorist actions. A similar cell in Bosnia currently brings in national level intelligence and fuses it with the local intelligence.
While force protection measures continue at the Khobar Towers housing complex following the Dhahran bombing, three U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia have gone to the highest alert level based on intelligence information. Secretary Perry said the U.S. has reason to be specifically concerned with threats to U.S. bases in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Bosnia and Turkey.
"Whatever we do in this area, we will not depend simply on passive defenses," Secretary Perry said. "... we cannot provide adequate force protection against a threat of that intensity and scope simply by moving fences, adding guards, and putting in mylar windows."
