Terrorist Use of WMD

[John Young <jya@pipeline.com>]

The President's February 27 report to Congress on
"Threats of Terrorist Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction"
proposes:

      New or enhanced technical capabilities needed to counter
     increasingly sophisticated terrorist organizations include
     the ability to intercept advanced telecommunications, with a
     primary focus on wireless and satellite-based systems;
     improved tracking and physical surveillance technologies for
     weapons, explosives, etc.; automatic language translation and
     text/key word recognition; and technology to support
     surreptitious entry.

       Current research and development funding is not adequate.
     Additional funding is needed to continue work on an indepth
     chemical characterization of foreign explosives and for
     continued development of contraband detection technology.
     Additional funding would accelerate development in a number
     of key technologies, particularly communications
     interception, tracking, covert communications, and
     surreptitious access. These technologies are critical to the
     support of counterterrorism investigations, especially WMD-
     related threats.

See the full report on specific threats and countermeasures:

   http://jya.com/cr022797.txt  (294K)

The report was mandated by the "The National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997":

   http://jya.com/ndatoc.htm  (70K toc; 1.5M full act)

It correlates with "The Antiterrorism Act of 1996":

   http://jya.com/pl104-132.txt  (358K)

The Senate "Intelligence Committee Report 1995-96":

   http://jya.com/sr105-1.htm  (135K)

The "Intelligence Authorization Act for 1997":

   http://jya.com/pl104-293.txt  (85K)

And "Executive Order 13010--Critical Infrastructure Protection":

   http://jya.com/eo13010.txt  (20K)