United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office National Security and International Affairs Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1998-04-23 monographic deposited born digital 12 p. GA 1.13:T-NSIAD-98-164 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-NSIAD-98-164 P0b002ee18037a5d0 f:ns98164t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-T-NSIAD-98-164 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-T-NSIAD-98-164 T-NSIAD-98-164 Terrorism Crime prevention Law enforcement information systems Explosives Intergovernmental relations National defense operations Emergency preparedness Firearms Domestic intelligence Testimony NSIAD GAO discussed its work and observations on federal efforts to combat terrorism, focusing on the: (1) foreign-origin and domestic terrorism threat in the United States; and (2) origins and principles of the U.S. policy and strategy to combat terrorism.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) conventional explosives and firearms continue to be the weapons of choice for terrorists; (2) terrorists are less likely to use chemical and biological weapons than conventional explosives, although the likelihood that they may use chemical and biological materials may increase over the next decade, according to intelligence agencies; (3) more than a decade ago, the Vice President's Task Force on Terrorism highlighted the need for improved, centralized interagency coordination; (4) GAO's work suggests that the government should continue to strive for improved interagency coordination today; (5) the need for effective interagency coordination--both at the federal level and among the federal, state, and local levels--is paramount; (6) the challenges of efficient and effective management and focus for program investments are growing as the terrorism issue draws more attention from Congress and as there are more players and more programs and activities to integrate and coordinate; (7) the United States is spending billions of dollars annually to combat terrorism without assurance that federal funds are focused on the right programs or in the right amounts; (8) as GAO has emphasized in two reports, a critical piece of the equation in decisions about establishing and expanding programs to combat terrorism is an analytically sound threat and risk assessment using valid inputs from the intelligence community and other agencies; (9) threat and risk assessments could help the government make decisions about: (a) how to target investments in combating terrorism and set priorities on the basis of risk; (b) unnecessary program duplication, overlap, and gaps; and (c) correctly sizing individual agencies' levels of effort; and (10) finally, there are different sets of views and an apparent lack of consensus on the threat of terrorism--particularly weapons of mass destruction terrorism. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-NSIAD-98-164/html/GAOREPORTS-T-NSIAD-98-164.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-NSIAD-98-164/pdf/GAOREPORTS-T-NSIAD-98-164.pdf GAO/T-NSIAD-98-164 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-NSIAD-98-164 Testimony GAO/T-NSIAD-98-164; Combating Terrorism: Observations on Crosscutting Issues; Terrorism Crime prevention Law enforcement information systems Explosives Intergovernmental relations National defense operations Emergency preparedness Firearms Domestic intelligence Public Law 104-201 Public Law 105-85 H. Rept. 105-405