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By: Mickey McCarter05/17/2012 ( 8:30am)
Multi-layered counterterrorism defenses have safeguarded Americans more than generally acknowledged, particularly as they have deterred individual terrorists from carrying out catastrophic attacks on US soil, argued the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Wednesday.
Speaking at the Counter Terror Expo in Washington, DC, Michael Leiter emphasized, "There is no silver bullet to counterterrorism," but insisted that US defenses nonetheless have been largely successful.
"What has in fact worked over and over again, not perfectly but well, is a multi-layered approach to counterterrorism and homeland security," Leiter stated.
Leiter cited the case of Najibullah Zazi, who purchased hydrogen peroxide for making a bomb in Denver, Colo., and drove to New York City with it before his arrest in September 2009.
US authorities relied upon foreign intelligence to track Zazi, who had been trained by Al Qaeda in Pakistan to carry out a terror plot. Federal intelligence agencies shared information with state and local authorities, and he was arrested in coordination with the New York Police Department, Leiter said.
In another case, multi-layered defenses worked well against Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square bomber who attempted to detonate a fertilizer bomb in an SUV in May 2010.
The media portrayed Shahzad's attempt to detonate his bomb as an intelligence failure but US defenses ultimately frustrated Shahzad's plot to blow up Times Square, Leiter insisted.
Reading the headlines, people may ask, "How can we let this happen? How could the intelligence system not detect this guy who had gone back and forth from Pakistan and is now in the middle of Times Square? And the only thing that saved us was a hot dog vendor?" Leiter queried.
But the former counterterrorism director viewed the narrative differently.
First, public awareness is an important part of the multi-layered approach to defeating terrorism, he said. So an important element of defense is the identification of suspicious activity by members of the public, as envisioned by the "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign adopted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Public awareness campaigns have worked well in other nations that have faced more persistent homegrown terrorist threats like Israel and the United Kingdom.
Although Shahzad did indeed travel to Pakistan for training on how to make a bomb, he limited those trips and thus limited his effectiveness because he was afraid of being discovered, Leiter said.
"He was worried that if he spent too much time in Pakistan then when he came back to the United States, he might be subject to additional screening and might become a suspect for the FBI or DHS to investigate," Leiter declared.
As Shahzad was discouraged from fully participating in terrorist training, one layer of US counterterrorism defenses worked, he argued.
Another layer also blocked Shahzad from being fully successful.
When he went to purchase fertilizer for his bomb, he bought fertilizer without nitrogen -- a lower grade of fertilizer that was not going to create the large explosion that he sought to create.
Shahzad purchased the lower grade fertilizer because he was aware of a tripwire system whereby people selling potentially dangerous bomb ingredients, such as the high-grade fertilizer, know to call local authorities of the FBI when they see suspicious purchases, Leiter said.
"So did the intelligence system find him among all of the noise beforehand? No. Did the intelligence or national security or homeland security system make it less likely that he was going to cause a catastrophic terrorist attack within the United States? Absolutely," he stated.
As such, the multi-layered defense system worked because it reduced the likelihood of a catastrophic terrorist attack, Leiter said.
He stressed that defenses could not stop every terrorist attack in the world, but US defenses still reduce the likelihood of catastrophic attacks and thus have generally been successful.
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Speaking at the Counter Terror Expo in Washington, DC, Michael Leiter emphasized, "There is no silver bullet to counterterrorism," but insisted that US defenses nonetheless have been largely successful.
"What has in fact worked over and over again, not perfectly but well, is a multi-layered approach to counterterrorism and homeland security," Leiter stated.
Leiter cited the case of Najibullah Zazi, who purchased hydrogen peroxide for making a bomb in Denver, Colo., and drove to New York City with it before his arrest in September 2009.
US authorities relied upon foreign intelligence to track Zazi, who had been trained by Al Qaeda in Pakistan to carry out a terror plot. Federal intelligence agencies shared information with state and local authorities, and he was arrested in coordination with the New York Police Department, Leiter said.
In another case, multi-layered defenses worked well against Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square bomber who attempted to detonate a fertilizer bomb in an SUV in May 2010.
The media portrayed Shahzad's attempt to detonate his bomb as an intelligence failure but US defenses ultimately frustrated Shahzad's plot to blow up Times Square, Leiter insisted.
Reading the headlines, people may ask, "How can we let this happen? How could the intelligence system not detect this guy who had gone back and forth from Pakistan and is now in the middle of Times Square? And the only thing that saved us was a hot dog vendor?" Leiter queried.
But the former counterterrorism director viewed the narrative differently.
First, public awareness is an important part of the multi-layered approach to defeating terrorism, he said. So an important element of defense is the identification of suspicious activity by members of the public, as envisioned by the "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign adopted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Public awareness campaigns have worked well in other nations that have faced more persistent homegrown terrorist threats like Israel and the United Kingdom.
Although Shahzad did indeed travel to Pakistan for training on how to make a bomb, he limited those trips and thus limited his effectiveness because he was afraid of being discovered, Leiter said.
"He was worried that if he spent too much time in Pakistan then when he came back to the United States, he might be subject to additional screening and might become a suspect for the FBI or DHS to investigate," Leiter declared.
As Shahzad was discouraged from fully participating in terrorist training, one layer of US counterterrorism defenses worked, he argued.
Another layer also blocked Shahzad from being fully successful.
When he went to purchase fertilizer for his bomb, he bought fertilizer without nitrogen -- a lower grade of fertilizer that was not going to create the large explosion that he sought to create.
Shahzad purchased the lower grade fertilizer because he was aware of a tripwire system whereby people selling potentially dangerous bomb ingredients, such as the high-grade fertilizer, know to call local authorities of the FBI when they see suspicious purchases, Leiter said.
"So did the intelligence system find him among all of the noise beforehand? No. Did the intelligence or national security or homeland security system make it less likely that he was going to cause a catastrophic terrorist attack within the United States? Absolutely," he stated.
As such, the multi-layered defense system worked because it reduced the likelihood of a catastrophic terrorist attack, Leiter said.
He stressed that defenses could not stop every terrorist attack in the world, but US defenses still reduce the likelihood of catastrophic attacks and thus have generally been successful.
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