Combating Terrorism: U.S. Government Strategies and Efforts to Deny Terrorists Safe Haven

摘要

I am pleased to be here to discuss the report GAO is releasing today on U.S. efforts to address terrorist safe havens. Terrorist safe havens provide security for terrorists, allowing them to train recruits and plan operations. U.S. officials have concluded that various terrorist incidents demonstrate the dangers emanating from terrorist safe havens, such as the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, planned, in part, from safe havens in Pakistan, and the attempted airliner bombing on December 25, 2009, planned from safe havens in Yemen. The discovery of Osama Bin Laden in a compound in Pakistan, from which, according to U.S. officials, he played an active role in al Qaeda focused on attacking the United States, makes this hearing particularly timely. My testimony today focuses on (1) U.S. national strategies related to addressing terrorist safe havens, (2) terrorist safe havens identified by the Department of State (State) and the threats emanating from these havens, and (3) the extent to which the U.S. government has identified efforts to deny terrorists safe havens. In our report, we found that U.S. national strategies emphasize the importance of denying safe haven to terrorists and that, since 2006, State has annually identified terrorist safe havens in its Country Reports on Terrorism. However, we also found that, although there are multiple reporting requirements, the U.S. government has not provided to Congress a comprehensive, government-wide list of its efforts to address terrorist safe havens. We made recommendations to both State and the National Security Council to improve reporting on U.S. efforts to address terrorist safe havens.