Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism Lawson Terrorism Information Center

Putting Counterterrorism Research to Work

Conference Summary Report


Over 50 researchers and representatives of entities with responsibilities for combating terrorism attended a conference on the future of combating terrorism on May 30-June 1 in Oklahoma City. This conference was co-sponsored by the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism and the National Domestic Preparedness Office. The objective was to engage in a meaningful dialogue between representatives of the user community, the research and development community and the training community. Although the conference was short in duration, it did achieve that goal and set the stage for subsequent discussion, coordination, and follow-up actions.

Part of the first day of the conference was devoted to presentations by representatives of terrorism committees of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, The National Emergency Management Association, the National Sheriffs Association, the National Association of Fire Chiefs, and representatives of the professional public health community. These presentations helped to provide to conference participants a basic understanding of the requirements of state and local responders. The presentations clearly validated the importance of such issues as the Incident Command System; better coordination; safe and operationally effective protective gear for chemical and biological attacks, as well as “state-of-the-art” body armor; and more sensitive and effective sensor, monitoring, and surveillance systems. Repeatedly, the need for well planned, well managed, realistic training, which brings together response entities for all levels – local, state and federal – in a realistic training scenario, and a sustainment training program to ensure that, once skills are developed, they do not atrophy, were listed as key training challenges. The importance of standards that are accepted across local, state and federal jurisdictional lines, was also highlighted. This was an unprecedented gathering of these five key associations, and the opportunity to hear them discuss their programs and some of the challenges they face was invaluable.

The remainder of the first day was devoted to presentations by federally funded research institutes and federal agencies that are working on solutions for some of the challenges facing these responders. Organizations that gave presentations included the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), the Institute for Security Technology Studies at Dartmouth College, the Technical Support Working Group; the Department of Agriculture; the Department of Energy; the Department of Defense; the Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice and its Office of State and Local Domestic Preparedness Support; and the U. S. Army Soldier Biological and Chemical Command. These presentations described the role and highlighted the key current programs of each organization, and explained how response entities could communicate with and leverage some of the programs being developed by the different agencies. Clearly, a need for “one stop shopping” and a clearing house for information, emerged from this conference. MIPT is prepared to take on this challenge and will use its web page to publish information on combating terrorism, as well as a description of the different agencies and direct links to their web page. Responders and other users will have the option of viewing a menu of the different federal institutes and agencies that are working solutions and enter their web page through links on the MIPT web page (http://www.mipt.org). MIPT expects to have its web page configured by 1 July 2000 for that purpose.

Other specific topics discussed during the first day included: emerging technologies, training programs available, the role of the military in providing support to civilian authorities, and the importance of protecting our food and water supply in the United States. Each of these topics highlighted not only what was available but the challenges ahead. A more complete wrap up of these presentations will be available in the final report.

MIPT is dedicated to becoming a living memorial “to those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever” by the events of 19 April 1995. A visit to the Oklahoma City Memorial on the evening of the first day underscored the importance of both that mission and this conference.

During the second day participants were broken into discussion groups that dealt with the specific issues associated with research and development, training and preparedness, and public health. This group breakout allowed for greater participation by all attendees, and resulted in some common themes in their report out to the larger group. These themes include:


  • The requirement for acceptable standards for planning, training, equipping, communicating, and other aspects of combating terrorism that cut across local, state, and federal lines.
  • A better system for testing and evaluating equipment currently available or under development.
  • The importance of compatibility, particularly in the ICS and communications areas.
  • The importance of focusing more on protecting our agriculture because of its criticality to our nation.
  • A general concern about the lack of emphasis on the potential and continued use of conventional explosives by terrorists.
  • The specific need for the development of sensors that detect conventional explosives similar to the bomb used in Oklahoma City on 19 April 1995, and how buildings can be better constructed to mitigate the damage associated with explosives.
  • While conventional domestic terrorist attacks remain the most probable threat, there was general agreement that the nation cannot afford to disregard the potential use of weapons of mass destruction, especially chemical and biological devices. The challenges are so daunting and potential destruction is so great that, although this threat may be less likely, agencies at all levels must continue and possibly accelerate efforts to address this threat.
  • An acknowledgement that deterrence and prevention of terrorism remain the primary goals; and to do so we need to conform our efforts to a better understanding of the motives of terrorists, either to stamp out the seeds of terrorism before they grow, or to detect and interdict would-be terrorists before they strike.
  • A requirement for further research, analysis, discussion, and coordination on a number of issues related to the legal framework for deterring, preventing, and responding to terrorism, since such efforts will often involve the application of a number of local, state, national, and perhaps even international laws.
  • While there are considerable efforts ongoing in the area of combating terrorism – all of them important – there appears to be a need to better focus efforts among a diverse and growing number of entities, in order to ensure maximum return on investment.

This executive summary serves to highlight key issues that emerged from the conference.


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