News

USIS Washington File

17 May 2000

Text: Clinton Announces Counterterrorism Funding Request May 17

(Seeks $300 million more to strengthen U.S. counterterrorism efforts)
(430)

President Clinton announced a plan May 17 to invest an additional $300
million in critical programs to strengthen U.S. counterterrorism
efforts.

The White House announcement said the funding would enhance the
government's work "to deter and detect terrorist activity, applying
lessons learned from the counterterrorism effort undertaken during
Millennium celebration events."

Following is the White House text:

(begin text)

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

May 17, 2000

Highlights of President Clinton's Counterterrorism Funding Request

May 17, 2000

President Clinton announced a plan today to invest an additional $300
million in critical programs to strengthen the Nation's
counterterrorism efforts.

The funding would enhance the Federal government's work to deter and
detect terrorist activity, applying lessons learned from the
counterterrorism effort undertaken during Millennium celebration
events. The request proposes $89 million for the Department of Justice
and $87 million for the Department of the Treasury to fund extra
personnel, new equipment, and additional joint operations and
infrastructure improvements. An additional $159 million is proposed
for other agencies to support these efforts.

Highlights of the initiative include:

- Increasing the number of Joint Terrorism Task Forces located
throughout the United States. The Task Forces were established to
integrate the resources and expertise of the law enforcement
authorities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the U.S. Customs
Service, ATF, Secret Service and state and local law enforcement.

- Improving monitoring on the northern border with secure
communications equipment and advanced monitoring equipment, including
high resolution day and night camera technology.

- Expanding INS forensic capabilities at the government's federal
crime lab dedicated to the forensic examination of potentially
fraudulent travel documents.

- Supporting the establishment of a new interagency National Terrorist
Asset Tracking Center to analyze the financing of terrorist
organizations and expand the Office of Foreign Asset Control at the
Department of the Treasury.

- Increasing the number of Department of Justice prosecutors and legal
staff to support the prosecution of terrorists.

- Increasing the Department of the Treasury's Counterterrorism Fund
that was established to cover costs associated with efforts to
counter, investigate or prosecute domestic or international terrorism.

Today's request builds on activities already being undertaken. In FY
2000, reprogramming funds the majority of the package. A fully offset
FY 2001 budget amendment will be submitted to Congress.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: usinfo.state.gov)