U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command - Fort Monroe, Virginia

*** Prepublication Edition ***

Force Protection: Antiterrorism 1997 Part 2

Antiterrorism (AT) Program

   TRADOC leaders are far from helpless in dealing with terrorism. The Army has a supportive American public, the world’s finest law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and a set of doctrine and regulations that provide the necessary tools to accomplish the job. As the TRADOC commander, I am acutely aware of the competing requirements for your time and resources. I am also cognizant of the exacting limitations of dealing with an enemy that is usually faceless, often operates outside our jurisdiction, and enjoys the full protection of our nation’s personal rights and liberties. An effective AT program does not need to be resource-intensive, but it does need your personal involvement.

   Following is the framework of an antiterrorism program that can be adapted across TRADOC. It consists of highlights of existing regulations, doctrine, and time-honored military principles. Since our facilities range across the United States and vary from large, active military installations to small, isolated ROTC detachments, the concepts are broad enough to apply universally. I expect you to read, understand and apply these measures to your circumstances. Help and assistance are here at TRADOC simply for the asking.

   First you must recognize that establishing an antiterrorism program is not an option; it is a requirement. Specifics are detailed in AR 525-13 and TRADOC Reg 525-13, The TRADOC Force Protection Program. Large installations have detailed requirements that range from developing a comprehensive force protection plan unique to that particular location to mandatory recurring training and rehearsals.

   Small, isolated ROTC detachments must understand the intent of these requirements and coordinate with their host organization’s public safety agency to satisfy the spirit of the regulations. In every case, these requirements will only be effective if you—the commander or leader—understand them, believe in them, and use them.

   An antiterrorism program is no different from any other military operation. Leaders must be constantly cognizant of the threat unique to their unit or facility and know what resources they have available to protect their people and material.

   Threat warning is fundamental to an effective antiterrorism program. It is unrealistic to believe we can simply lock down our facilities. We must tailor physical security steps to prudently address the threat. Aside from TRADOC foreign exchange officers, all TRADOC leaders are based on American soil. Assessing the threat requires imagination and care, but can be accomplished in coordination with local, state and federal law enforcement authorities and Army CID and counterintelligence elements. Installation commanders have ready, adequate authority to challenge and determine the status of personnel on their facilities, but their span of control stops at the front gate—or front door of ROTC facilities. Leaders must think and plan beyond the front gate by thinking in terms of strategic, operational, and tactical terrorist threats.

• The strategic threat encompasses the overall threat condition (THREATCON) within the United States. Strategic warnings are seldom specific, but do frequently warn of the nature of possible attack, for example, letter bombs. During operations such as Desert Storm when the THREATCON is high, DIA and the FBI disseminate warnings to all DOD installations and activities, regional and local FBI offices, and the National Criminal Information Center, which is used by state and local law enforcement agencies. Even when the THREATCON is low, the FBI and DIA routinely disseminate unclassified strategic warnings of possible terrorist activities. These warnings provide you a start point in your threat assessment.
• The operational terrorist threat is unique to each TRADOC facility’s surrounding geographical region—typically a state, county or metropolitan area. Knowledge of this threat is key. It may provide sufficient warnings to thwart a terrorist attack. The operational threat obviously varies greatly across TRADOC. National agencies such as the FBI will periodically issue terrorist threats unique to specific geographical regions, but you, as TRADOC’s commanders and leaders, cannot depend on warnings from national agencies alone. You must personally work to develop the threat specific to your facility. At the same time, you must understand and strictly abide by the regulations clearly prohibiting intelligence operations against US persons and non-DOD affiliated individuals. Establishing and maintaining strong ties with your local civilian communities are the heart of meeting these two seemingly conflicting requirements. Local, county and state law enforcement agencies are your strongest allies in this campaign. Let them be your “eyes and ears” outside your gates. Since, as military members, we cannot collect and maintain records on United States citizens and permanently resident aliens not affiliated with DOD, we need to clearly state our force protection concerns to our civilian antiterrorist allies. Let them know your concerns; make them part of your process.
• The tactical threat constitutes an immediate and direct danger to your personnel or facilities. Tactical warning can come from recognizing a letter bomb, spotting a suspicious individual, or realizing that a number of operational or strategic warnings are interrelated. Tactical warning will usually come from your own personnel. The foundation for such warnings is training. Antiterrorism training is simple, effective, and inexpensive. In its most basic form, it educates your people to the nature of the threat, indicators to watch for, and steps to take when indicators are recognized. This must be a dynamic program that evolves over time as the threat changes. Antiterrorism becomes a state of mind. Nations such as the United Kingdom, which have a clear, distinct domestic terrorist threat, have highly effective training programs that include all military members and usually their families. When we bring our soldiers, civilians, and families into our antiterrorism campaign, we directly attack the terrorist’s greatest weapons: fear and ignorance. Our soldiers can defeat any conventional enemy; the terrorist has no unique capabilities that make him an exception.

   To combat these threats, awareness of antiterrorism resources available from national law enforcement and intelligence agencies is essential. While I do not desire you, as local commanders and leaders, to interface directly with the national headquarters of these agencies, you nevertheless need to be cognizant of their roles and missions in this campaign and understand how to best use their support.

National Law Enforcement and Intelligence Support

   The FBI is the lead federal agency for combating terrorism within the United States. It has the mission to directly counter terrorism and to provide antiterrorism support to government agencies at every level. As required, the FBI issues terrorist warnings and alerts, which your unit should be receiving. They are frequently the first strategic step in building an accurate and timely threat warning. I encourage you to establish informal working relationships with local FBI offices.

   The DIA has a wide range of antiterrorism responsibilities that range from operating a 24-hour terrorist watch center to issuing indications and warnings. DIA indications and warning are disseminated to all joint commands and Service MACOMs. The DIA also maintains the data base on foreign terrorist organizations, which includes information on group capabilities, facilities, incidents, and biographies.

Army Law Enforcement and Intelligence Support

   The Army has two key agencies that provide antiterrorism support to TRADOC. The US Army Criminal Investigation Division Command (USACIDC) and the US Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) have direct links to national and local law enforcement agencies and national intelligence resources. They share investigative responsibilities for actual or suspected incidents of terrorism. Field offices located across the United States have the mission of directly assisting local Army facilities.

   USACIDC, or CID, operates daily with local law enforcement agencies. Its mission is criminal law enforcement, with a number of specific responsibilities that relate to your requirements:

• The collection, evaluation, and dissemination to affected commands of criminal information pertaining to terrorist activities. The investigation of terrorist incidents on installations and facilities against units, Army personnel, or their family members.
• The reporting to appropriate local commanders of terrorist incidents, suspected terrorist activity, and criminal information concerning the terrorist threat.
• The exchange of terrorist-related criminal activities with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.

   INSCOM’s primary focus is intelligence, counterintelligence (which is defined to include threats to security posed by individuals who engage in terrorism), and security. The 902d Military Intelligence Group (902d MIG) at Fort Meade, Maryland is subordinate to INSCOM and has primary responsibility for providing counterintelligence support to Army elements throughout the world. Like the CID, it operates field offices across the United States whose mission is to investigate Subversion and Espionage Directed Against the US Army (SAEDA) which are reportable under AR 381-12 and to provide counterintelligence investigative support as specified in AR 381-20. Agents of the 902d MIG receive reports of any international or domestic terrorist activity or sabotage that pose an actual or potential threat to Army or other US facilities, activities, personnel or resources. They investigate jointly with CID agents until it is clear that foreign intelligence service involvement in a terrorist incident can be ruled out. Counterintelligence agents also provide support in combatting terrorism by furnishing technical expertise, advice, and assistance to efforts at improving force protection programs. Specific 902d MIG antiterrorism activities include the following responsibilities:

• Maintaining a full-time capability to report and rapidly disseminate time-sensitive indications and warning concerning possible terrorist threats to Army personnel and facilities.
• Serving as the Army's counterintelligence liaison to national intelligence and counterintelligence agencies to obtain information on terrorist activities, organizations, and individuals who may be acting on behalf of a foreign intelligence service or foreign power.
• Facilitating close and continuous liaison ties at all levels between agents of the 902d MIG and CID with antiterrorism operational and investigative responsibilities.

Local Law Enforcement Agencies

   I expect TRADOC leaders to establish strong, continuous ties with their local communities. Local law enforcement agencies will acknowledge their responsibilities in combatting terrorism. To involve them in a proactive antiterrorism effort, you must make them aware of your unique requirements, what they can do to help you, and welcome them into your program. Your SJA can advise you on the details of establishing and maintaining a positive, long-term relationship with local authorities. CID and 902d MIG representatives have the formal responsibility to maintain these relationships and can assist you in establishing proper, legal ties. ROTC detachments should be fully integrated with the school or university they support. Their campus security is the ROTC detachment’s first line of defense and must become an integral part of its AT program.

HQ TRADOC, Your Unit and Your Installation

   TRADOC stands behind every one of its units, soldiers, civilians, and families. You will receive the support you need to win this campaign. The specific responsibilities for antiterrorism within military organizations are detailed in AR 525-13, but in sum, it is clearly a command responsibility that is coordinated and managed by your G3/S3 or operations directorate. Your provost marshal and intelligence and security officer will advise and support your operations officer. If yours is a small detachment without a staff, then understand the intent behind this staff delineation: antiterrorism is an operational mission, not an additional duty.

   As in all Army missions, your primary support will come from your chain of command and your own unit. The real power of an effective AT program comes from a simple, effective training program making every soldier, civilian, and family member a part of your team. Teach your people to recognize the threat and to know what to do if one is detected. Many of the findings the Downing Assessment Task Force specified in their “Force Protection Assessment of USCENTCOM AOR and Khobar Towers,” August 1996, pointed toward the presence of strategic, operational, and even tactical warnings of the Khobar Towers bombing attack.

Khobar Towers	Crater resulting from an estimated 10 tons of explosives

   Missing was an integrated systems approach to force protection. When the security police on the roof of Khobar Towers witnessed the attack unfold, they recognized the threat and were able to provide tactical warning. However, because no plan or system was established to disseminate the warning, they could not stop the attack or save more lives. Young service members acting alone lacked the resources. As TRADOC leaders, you must frame a program that serves your people better.

DoD 2000.12           Directive on Combatting Terrorism Program
DoD 2000.12H          Handbook for the Protection of Personnel 
                        Against Acts of Terrorism
Joint Pub 3-07.2      Joint TTP for Antiterrorism
CJCS Handbook 5260    Commander's Handbook for Antiterrorism Readiness
AR 525-13             The Army Combatting Terrorism Program
TRADOC Reg. 525-13    The TRADOC Force Protection Program

TVT  19-79            Introduction to Terrorism
TVT  19-125           Self Protective Measures, Part I
TVT  19-125           Self Protective Measures, Part II
TVT  19-81            Surveillance Detection

GTA 19-4-3/JS Guide 5260    Service Member's Personal Protection Guide
JS Guide 5260               Coping With Violence
Tri-Fold Card               Security While Traveling
GTA 21-3-11                 Individual Protective Measures

Developing an AT Plan

   Developing an antiterrorism plan is a requirement. The plan can range from complex, detailed procedures found on a large installation, to a simple SOP for a small detachment. It should integrate the risk management system of logical steps to balance resource restraints with the risk of terrorism:

• Identify hazards and threats.
• Assess hazards and threats.
• Determine risk, make decision and develop plan/controls.
• Implement plan.
• Supervise and enforce.

   Nothing about risk management is difficult or unusual. Its importance to our AT campaign is that it provides you a simple methodology to realistically balance protection of your people and facilities with available time and resources. Proactively tracking the risk, through intelligence, allows you to only take extensive, costly steps when required. Two new TRADOC publications—FM 100-14, Risk Management, and the training circular, A Field Reference Guide to Protecting the Force and Risk Management—are comprehensive guides to risk management.

   Your antiterrorism plan must be a dynamic document. A simple, flexible plan that you and your people will understand and use is better than a complex, burdensome publication. In its most basic form, the plan must provide:

• A threat assessment. What is outside your gate? Usually you will not exactly know, so provide the best general description of the threat that you and your people can develop. The concept isn’t to list a number of terrorist or extremist organizations, but rather to provide a realistic general setting of what may develop as a threat. Develop a procedure to keep this assessment current.
• Instructions for disseminating terrorist warnings and indications. How will you disseminate warnings if a threat does develop? Give this thought. Proper threat dissemination capabilities can save lives.
• Procedures for responding to a terrorist attack. “Rock drill” possible responses with your unit or organization and other appropriate people, such as local authorities.
• Procedures for reporting terrorist incidents. Establish the method by which you will keep your chain of command informed.

   Our Army’s strength is its people and the foundation of every successful Army program is training. Get our soldiers, civilians, and families into this campaign and most of the battle is already won. Antiterrorism training is no different from anything else we teach: understand your subject; know your training objectives; present them in an interesting, effective manner; evaluate and retrain as required. Use your AT plan as the basis for your training. Bring it to life.

   Antiterrorism training ranges from extremely sophisticated programs for your military police to simple effective instruction for your family members. I know that the TRADOC-sponsored antiterrorism programs the Military Police School conducts are current, relevant, and superbly taught. While these courses may only pertain to some of your requirements, each of you should be aware of their nature and availability.

   Aim your local training emphasis at your entire organization and its members’ families. Many training resources are available, ranging from formal instruction to informal publications, posters, and flyers. I do not need to tell you how to train. Your final training objective should be people who—

• Understand the nature of the terrorist threat.
• Understand your antiterrorism plan and their role.
• Can recognize indications of a terrorist attack.
• Know how to effectively take appropriate action.

   While TRADOC is almost entirely based in CONUS, we have TRADOC exchange officers and families in ten countries, many of our personnel travel abroad daily, and we support our Army’s deployed forces from other commands. Threats to TRADOC personnel overseas vary widely from nation to nation. To prepare all US service personnel for this threat, DOD has recently established a new program of AT training. These are minimum required standards. The principles of OCONUS antiterrorism are little different from the thrust of our TRADOC program: know the threat, recognize danger signs when they appear, know what to do when they come. The specifics vary with time and across different locations. It is every TRADOC leader’s responsibility to ensure that his soldiers, civilians and families traveling abroad receive proper information and training.

Guidance

   The responsibilities for this program by now should be clear. I expect you, as commanders and leaders, to not only be responsible but also actively engaged. Your primary assistant will be your operations staff, which has direct staff responsibility. The other key members of this team are the provost marshal and intelligence staff, who will proactively provide the expertise to make this campaign a reality. Finally, I hold every TRADOC soldier and civilian accountable for active support. Antiterrorism is everyone’s mission.

   In summary, my guidance to you is simple and straightforward:

• Read and understand this book; take it seriously.
• Understand your requirements and your local situation.
• Make a solid, living antiterrorism plan and live by it.Train your people.
• Finally, take care of our soldiers!

   America’s Army is a force capable of dominating any conventional battlefield now and in the foreseeable future. Our responsibility is to protect and preserve that force.

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