COORDINATOR FOR COUNTER-TERRORISM BILL, H.R. 22 -- H.R. 22 (Extension of Remarks - January 05, 1995)

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HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

in the House of Representatives

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 1995

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August 12. 1994.

Congressman Benjamin A. Gilman,
Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Congressman Gilman: As I have been travelling for the past month, it is only now that I have been able to catch up with your letter of July 13.

I willingly add my voice to those who oppose the State Department's proposal to merge its Counterterrorism Office into the Bureau of International Narcotics Matters. Indeed, the proposal seems to go against all logic.

It is true that the paths of certain international terrorist groups and narcotraffickers cross occasionally, where such terrorists rely on drug money to help finance their operations. But that is essentially a marginal part of these two altogether distinct and equally insidious problems. The fact that both are of global proportions certainly doesn't mean they can be dealt with as one.

The world has made enormous progress in containing terrorism since the U.S. took the lead in developing international channels for the exchange of intelligence information and operational collaboration. The knowledge and expertise, the mechanisms, the international relationships that have come of this are highly specialized--unique. The entire pattern for fighting the global drug trade is different.

Should the merger be approved, the fight against terrorism is bound to be downgraded, diminished, subordinated to a war on narcotics that has understandably become a matter of obsessive international concern. Such a shift in our attention and resources would seem to me senseless, dangerous and destructive.

Sincerely,
Claire Sterling.

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H.R. 22

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. COORDINATOR FOR COUNTER-TERRORISM.

(a) Establishment.--There shall be within the office of the Secretary of State a Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism (hereafter in this section referred to as the `Coordinator') who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

(b) Responsibilities.--(1) The Coordinator shall perform such duties and exercise such power as the Secretary of State shall prescribe.

(2) The Coordinator shall have as his principal duty the overall supervision (including policy oversight of resources) of international counterterrorism activities. The Coordinator shall be the principal advisor to the Secretary of State on international counterterrorism matters. The Coordinator shall be the principal counterterrorism official within the senior management of the Department of State and report directly to the Secretary of State.

(c) Rank and Status.--The Coordinator shall have the rank and status of Ambassador-at-Large. The Coordinator shall be compensated at the annual rate of basic pay in effect for a position at level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5314 of title 5, United States Code, or, if the Coordinator is appointed from the Foreign Service, the annual rate of pay which the individual last received under the Foreign Service Schedule, whichever is greater.

(d) Diplomatic Protocol.--For purposes of diplomatic protocol among officers of the Department of State, the Coordinator shall take precedence after the Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of State, and the Under Secretaries of State and shall take precedence among the Assistant Secretaries of State in the order prescribed by the Secretary of State.

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