[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 127 (Tuesday, September 22, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10722-S10723]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WARNER:
  S. 2506. A bill to establish a National Commission on Terrorism; to 
the Committee on the Judiciary.


              national commission on terrorism legislation

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, terrorism, both domestic and 
international, will regrettably, continue to be a threat to United 
States citizens and, indeed, to humanity into the millennium. It is the 
weapon of choice for those nations, entities, and individuals bent on 
pursuing myriad aims through the cowardly, cold-blooded sacrifice of 
innocents.
  In his remarks to the opening session of the United Nations General 
Assembly yesterday, President Clinton focused on the reality of 
terrorism in the world community. ``This is a threat,'' he said, ``to 
all humankind.'' At the end of this statement, I include excerpts of 
the President's speech.
  Terrorism is one of the principal threats to global economic and 
political stability and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. 
As such, U.S. foreign and economic policies designed to foster peace 
and prosperity through stability will be weakened.
  U.S. policies, citizens and interests continue to be prime targets 
for international terrorism. The April 1998 Department of State report, 
``Patterns of

[[Page S10723]]

Global Terrorism,'' noted that approximately 33% of all terrorist 
incidents worldwide were committed against U.S. citizens or property. 
These attacks were by and large perpetrated outside of the continental 
United States.
  The Congress will soon be considering appropriations to increase the 
physical security to United States missions abroad. Of the 260 
diplomatic posts overseas, only 40 are determined to be safe against 
terrorist attack.
  While it is clear that the safety and stability of the world 
community continue to be threatened, terrorist activity and the 
perpetrators of that activity require leaders to reexamine our 
understanding of terrorism and develop policy to continue to combat the 
threat.
  The motivation to commit acts of terrorism are no longer viewed as 
those with simply political ends. No longer are these senseless acts of 
death and destruction purely the domain of those with a political 
agenda. Increasingly, terrorists are motivated by religious goals, by 
the pursuit of financial profit, by long-standing racial, ethnic or 
tribal divisions and animosities, or by a mix of all of the above.
  The age of information technology and proliferation of weapons of 
mass destruction threaten to increase the potential arsenal for terror. 
In testimony before the Armed Services Committee, witnesses have 
explained, as you can well imagine, the possible devastation which 
could be inflicted through skilled use of modern technologies. What 
have been violent attacks with rudimentary car bombs, may very well 
soon be attacks of apocalyptic proportions.
  A few days ago, Representative Frank Wolf, an outstanding Member of 
the House from just across the Potomac and able member of the 
Commonwealth's delegation, presented to me this legislation to address 
the challenges of the terrorism threat. His bill has been accepted by 
the House of Representatives and will be a conference item by the 
Appropriations Committee. I present this legislation to my colleagues 
in the Senate for consideration and deliberation.
  The legislation assembles 15 distinguished experts in the field of 
terrorism, including three Congressmen and three Senators. Their goal 
will be to review and assess United States policies on terrorism, from 
basic understanding to appropriate response, and recommend changes as 
warranted. This initiative is not intended as an attack on existing 
policy, but a means to enhance our understanding of one of the 
principal threats to stability in the millennium and focus every 
available resource to eliminate the threat.
  I urge my colleagues to review this important legislation.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that excerpts from President 
Clinton's address to the United Nations be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the excerpts where ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

  Remarks by the President to the Opening Session of the 53rd United 
                        Nations General Assembly

       The President. * * * We still are bedeviled by ethnic, 
     racial, religious and tribal hatreds; by the spread of 
     weapons of mass destruction; by the almost frantic effort of 
     too many states to acquire such weapons; and, despite all 
     efforts to contain it, terrorism is not fading away with the 
     end of the 20th century. It is a continuing defiance of 
     Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which 
     says, ``Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security 
     of person.''

                           *   *   *   *   *

       Obviously this is a matter of profound concern to us. In 
     the last 15 years our citizens have been targeted over and 
     over again--in Beirut, over Lockerbie, in Saudi Arabia, at 
     home in Oklahoma City by one of our own citizens, and even 
     here in New York in one of our most public buildings, and 
     most recently on August 7th in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, 
     where Americans who devoted their lives to building bridges 
     between nations, people very much like all of you, died in a 
     campaign of hatred against the United States.

                           *   *   *   *   *

       If terrorism is at the top of the American agenda--and 
     should be at the top of the world's agenda--what, then are 
     the concrete steps we can take together to protect our common 
     destiny. What are our common obligations? At least, I believe 
     they are these: to give terrorists no support, no sanctuary, 
     no financial assistance; to bring pressure on states that do; 
     to act together to step up extradition and prosecution; to 
     sign the Global Anti-Terror Conventions; to strengthen the 
     Biological Weapons and Chemical Convention; to enforce the 
     Chemical Weapons Convention; to promote stronger domestic 
     laws and control the manufacture and export of explosives; to 
     raise international standards for airport security, to combat 
     the conditions that spread violence and despair.

                           *   *   *   *   *

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