HEADQUARTERS PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED STATES PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE

HEADQUARTERS PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED STATES PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE

The United States was off to an aggressive start in combating international terrorism, focusing on blocking its assets, tracking down those already in the country and denying entry to others, United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Negroponte told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this morning.

"As President Bush has promised, we will direct every resource at our command to the disruption and defeat of the global terror network", he said, introducing the United States report on implementation of Security Council resolution 1373.  That resolution lists global counter-terrorism measures, including steps to improve law enforcement, set up financial controls and promote international cooperation.

Mr. Negroponte, who was joined by Ted McNamara, United States Special Coordinator for United Nations Anti-terrorism Measures, noted that his country's aims in fighting terrorism were similar to those of the Anti-Terrorism Committee.  They included promoting international cooperation in taking aggressive action against terrorists, increasing international capacity to fight terrorism and improving global cooperation in countering the threat for years to come.

An executive order by President Bush on 23 September was the key United States tool in blocking terrorist financing, Mr. Negroponte continued.  Since then, United States authorities had pinpointed 153 groups, individuals and entities that were actively involved in supporting international terrorism.

The United States report detailed numerous concrete actions that had vitally affected the nation's ability to fight terrorism at home and abroad, he said.  "In addition to freezing the assets of terrorists and their supporters, we have stepped up bilateral law enforcement and intelligence exchanges to prevent terrorist attacks, and stand ready to provide assistance to States seeking to improve their abilities to prevent terrorism."

The report was an initial but indispensable step in what was likely to be a painstaking process of building international consensus on dealing with international terrorism, he said.  He commended the Counter-terrorism Committee on its work, as well as other Member States -– Honduras, Mongolia, Norway and Venezuela -- that had submitted early reports (reports are due on 27 December 2001) on implementing resolution 1373.

Asked about major steps that remained in implementing 1373, Mr. McNamara said that legislation was still needed to deal with two of the 12 United Nations anti-terrorism treaties that the United States had signed.  His country was also trying to increase information exchanged globally about terrorist organizations, as well as the types of training it could offer other States, particularly in the fields of money laundering, asset control and law enforcement.

Another correspondent asked whether countries had asked for United States help since resolution 1373 had come into effect.  Mr. Negroponte replied that one of the purposes of the resolution was to identify the needs of nations in complying with it.  "That's one of the things we expect to see come out of the examination of these reports.  There will be an analytical process that will help identify gaps that might exist with respect to legislative or regulatory requirements."

A number of countries had asked in a general way for technical assistance, he said, but the United States also wanted to examine their own requirements before sitting down to talk about specific training courses.

Would the 153 groups named as terrorist organizations also be accepted as such by the Anti-terrorism Committee, and how much cooperation would there be between the United States and the Committee in naming specific groups, another correspondent asked.

Mr. Negroponte replied that there was no listing authority under resolution 1373, although they existed under other Security Council resolutions, such as 1333.  “Resolution 1373 is an attempt to raise the level of capability of nations to deal with terrorism, not an attempt to put forward a complete list of terrorist organizations.”

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