Troops-on-the-Move to Get Increased Force Protection.

• Author: Kennedy, Harold

The U.S. military services have made significant progress in protecting their installations against terrorist attacks since the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. Last year's assault on the USS Cole, however, disclosed a gap in that protection, which the Pentagon now is scrambling to fill, according to Defense Department officials.

Most vulnerable at the moment are our in-transit ships and planes," Army Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in May.

Overall, in the four and a half years since the Khobar Towers attack--which killed 19 airmen--"we've made monumental progress in our antiterrorism force-protection (AT/FP) efforts," Shelton said.

After Khobar Towers, the joint chiefs created the Joint Staff Combating Terrorism Directorate (J-34) to coordinate antiterrorist operations for all of the services, Shelton noted.

"Defense planners include combating terrorism among their very top priorities," he said. Funding for antiterrorist programs increased by $100 million in fiscal year 2001 to a total of $3.5 billion, he noted.

Teams from the directorate have visited 327 military installations worldwide to assess their abilities to thwart terrorist threats. An additional 96 bases will receive visits by the end of this year.

Base commanders receive a step-by-step guide in developing thorough and inclusive plans. In addition, the department has instituted four levels of antirerrorism training--a basic awareness course for all defense personnel and their families, an advanced curriculum for force-protection officers, seminars for commanding officers and executive-level briefings for senior officials.

The Combating Terrorism Directorate has created two organizations "that are vital" to the Pentagon's efforts to leverage technology in the battle against terrorism, Shelton said.

"The Physical Security Equipment Action Group coordinates Defense Department efforts in acquiring all physical-security equipment, including commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology that has AT/FP applicability," he said. "Another organization, the Technical Support Working Group, focuses on rapid prototype technologies in the AT/FP arena."

All of these efforts apparently are paying off. Since Khobar Towers, Pentagon officials noted, there have been no new attacks against U.S. military bases anywhere in the world. Instead, terrorists have turned their attention to more vulnerable targets, such as the...