Five years after the start of an unprecedented reorganization of
the US intelligence community, the country's anti-terror efforts
remain largely uncoordinated, The Washington Post reported
Wednesday.
The counter-terrorism infrastructure has become so immense and
unwieldy that even some insiders have trouble in understanding how
it works or how much safer it has made the country, according to
the report.
Although the country has spent US$430 billion so far on overseas
military and anti-terror operations, and established a number of
new anti-terror institutions, critics say that after nearly five
years, the fight against terrorism often seems like a chaotic work
in progress.
Continuity and coherence have been undercut by rapid turnover
among top officials, particularly in the institutions responsible
for domestic security and preparedness.
For example, the FBI's sixth counter-terrorism chief since 2001
tendered his resignation in April after 10 months on the job.
Many with government training and security clearances resign or
retire, only to sign on at far higher salaries with the burgeoning
private-sector security industry.
To address the problem, the National Counter terrorism Center
has recently presented US President George W. Bush a 160-page plan
that aspires to achieve what has eluded his administration in the
five years since the September 11 terror attacks: bringing order
and direction to the fight against terrorism.
For the first time, the classified National Implementation Plan
sets government-wide goals and assigns responsibility to achieve
them to specific departments and agencies.
(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2006)
