Excerpted from ENN Daily Report; Vol. 2, No. 289 - 10/15/96
HUMINT (Human Intelligence) STILL MOST IMPORTANT WHEN
THWARTING TERRORISTS
By Steve Macko, ENN Editor
Even though U.S. intelligence agencies have billions upon billions of dollars worth of sophisticated technical equipment at
their disposal, when it comes to thwarting terrorists -- human operatives are still the most important asset. Spending on
intelligence in recent years has substantially declined in the past ten years. However, more resources have been directed
toward to improve "human intelligence" devoted to combat terrorists.
Senior intelligence officials say that the U.S. has improved its capability against terrorists and the nations that support them.
One potential terrorist target area of particular concern are terrorists who target airliners. Burton L. Hutchings is an aviation
security consultant and a former CIA counterterrorism specialist. He said, "The role of the intelligence community is to give
the tipoff, to alert the FAA, who then passes it on to the aviation community."
When Hutchings was employed at the Central Intelligence Agency, he had a direct telephone line to the FAA on his desk.
Hutchings said that recalls that aviation officials often became frustrated when he attempted to relay potential threats in
nonspecific terms in order to protect CIA sources and methods. He recalled, "After you've done this three or four times,
the airline companies would say, 'If you're not going to say anything more specific, we're not going to do anymore
countermeasures.'"
The United States has the most sophisticated SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) assets in the world. These assets include spy
satellites and planes. These assets do aid in the detection of terrorists by intercepting their phone, computer, e-mail, and
radio communications. However, according to intelligence experts, these technological assets still cannot replace the
importance of human intelligence assets. Human operatives are still needed to infiltrate and uncover the plans of terrorist
groups.
Reportedly, U.S. intelligence has been having some success in their efforts against terrorists. The CIA says that they have
substantially increased the number of new sources reporting to it on terrorism. ENN will go more in-depth on the CIA's
counterterrorism center in a few days. CIA Director John Deutch has recently said, "The gain in the past 18 months far
exceeds previous achievements."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is responsible for fighting terrorism within the borders of the United States. The
Bureau has recently redeployed 500 agents to counterterrorism duty. The CIA and the FBI are now working together to
combat terrorism. Earlier this year, for the first time ever, CIA station chiefs and FBI legal attaches held meetings to
discuss terrorism. This is a vast improvement over the days of the infamous bureaucratic rivalries between the two
agencies.
More information is also flowing to the FAA and the U.S. Department of Transportation. The information is coming from
the CIA, the FBI and the U.S. State Department, which is the lead agency on international terrorism.
It is said that the hijacking of TWA Flight 847, a flight that was diverted from Athens to Beirut in 1985, was the incident
that caused the U.S. to really get serious about international terrorism. After that hijacking, the CIA created its first
counterterrorism center in 1986.
"There have been a lot of potential ... attacks against aircraft that have been thwarted," said Robert H. Kupperman, who is
a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and highly regarded expert on terrorism. Kupperman
added that there have been many U.S. "silent" success stories.
The job of tracking terrorists and terrorist groups is not becoming easier. Smaller, less organized groups appear to be
emerging. This makes the job of thwarting terrorists more difficult.
Former CIA director Robert Gates said, "There is the problem of free-lance terrorists. But the other side of that is, as you
get groups like that, they also tend to be more amateurish. They do things like take their rental cars back for rebates, drive
the principal vehicle used in an attack without license plates. They make foolish mistakes that traditional, state- sponsored
groups would not make."
(C) EmergencyNet News Service, 1996. All rights reserved.