U.S. – Australia Relations
Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003
Washington, D.C. — 29 April 2004
Released by the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism April 29, 2004
East Asia Overview
Partners such as Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and others are working with the United States to assist governments in the region to overcome these challenges by providing training and assistance. The primary tools to build such capacity remain bilateral engagement programs, but much progress was made in working multilaterally to promote regional and transnational approaches to the challenges of counterterrorism. Building upon the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (ARF) for Counterterrorism Workplan, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Counterterrorism Task Force, and other mechanisms, the region as a whole made advances in areas such as law enforcement, border control, transportation security, information sharing, antiterrorist financing, and the development of legal regimes.
Australia and Japan maintained their strong counterterrorism stance in 2003, both domestically and abroad. Senior officials from both countries publicly declared their firm commitment to work with the United States to combat terrorism over the long term in a meeting of the three counterterrorism ambassadors in November in Canberra. Australia and Japan continue to contribute to the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. Australia made strong contributions to the US-led Coalition in Iraq, while Japan’s October passage of the Iraq Reconstruction Assistance Law, which includes provision for dispatching the Japan Self-Defense Forces to Iraq, reflects its strong commitment to assist in reconstruction and humanitarian efforts (deployment, in fact, took place in early 2004).
Australia and Japan are active in helping Asia-Pacific countries build their capacity in various international and regional forums to combat terrorism. Australia, for example, has broadened its network of bilateral counterterrorism arrangements in Southeast Asia to eight nations. The APEC Leaders’ Summit in 2003 endorsed two Australian counterterrorism-related initiatives: advancement of passenger information systems and development of a regional movement-alert system. Japanese officials led seminars on immigration control, aviation security, customs cooperation, export control, law enforcement, and terrorist financing. In May, Cambodian authorities arrested one Egyptian, two Thais, and one Cambodian suspected of being members of JI. The cell was plotting to conduct terrorist attacks in Cambodia and had been operating out of an Islamic school on the outskirts of Phnom Penh run by the Saudi Arabia–based nongovernmental organization, Umm al-Qura.
Australia
Australia continued its strong counterterrorism stance in 2003, both domestically and abroad. Australia continues to contribute to the global war on terror in Afghanistan. Between September 2001 and June 2004, Australia expects to have contributed more than US $46 million in humanitarian and reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan. Australia has also made strong contributions to the US-led Coalition in Iraq, with more than 800 Australian Defence Force personnel in Iraq. Its commitment to Iraq’s stabilization and development continues across humanitarian, agricultural, and other economic sectors.
Canberra further improved its domestic counterterrorism arrangements and consultative mechanisms in 2003. The National Counterterrorism Committee completed a National Counterterrorism Plan in June. The Government also created a National Security Hotline, conducted a public campaign to ensure that Australians remain alert to the possible threat of terrorism, and formed the Business-Government Task Force on Critical Infrastructure. A National Security Division was established in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to ensure a continued high level of coordination and reinforce a government-wide approach to terrorism and national security issues. Canberra also established the National Threat Assessment Centre to provide integrated assessment capability across the government.
In March, the Government created a position of Ambassador for Counterterrorism. Similar to the Coordinator for Counterterrorism in the United States, the Ambassador provides a focal point for coordinating, promoting, and intensifying Australia’s international counterterrorism efforts.
Underpinning Australia’s commitment to fighting terrorism is a detailed legislative response. In 2002, the Commonwealth Parliament created specific offenses for involvement in terrorist activities and terrorist organizations and designated 16 such terrorist groups as of December 2003. Parliament also provided additional powers to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in 2003.
The Parliament passed new measures in 2002 to deny terrorists the funds on which they rely, and during 2002 and 2003 specifically listed more than 400 terrorist-related individuals, entities, and organizations, including HAMAS and Hizballah. Australia has taken action to block transactions, accounts, and assets relating to persons or organizations identified as terrorists or the sponsors of terrorism, including those listed under US Executive Order 13224. Australia has a highly developed legal regime in place to combat terrorist financing. The Australian financial intelligence unit AUSTRAC has strengthened its network by signing a further ten Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with other Financial Intelligence Units throughout the world in 2003, bringing the total to 24. AUSTRAC is also cooperating with the US counterpart, FinCEN, on financial intelligence.
Australia is helping countries in the Asia-Pacific region build their capacity to combat terrorism in areas such as law enforcement, border management, transportation security, intelligence, antiterrorist financing, and the development of legal regimes. In July, Prime Minister Howard announced a three-year $3.6 million package with the Philippines to support the building of counterterrorism capacity. Australia’s $7.2 million counterterrorism package to Indonesia is in the second of its four years. Australia spent $5.38 million specifically on building counterterrorism capacity throughout the entire Asia-Pacific region and expects to spend an additional $6.12 million this year.
Australia has broadened its network of bilateral counterterrorism arrangements in Southeast Asia, signing MOUs on cooperation to combat international terrorism with the Philippines, Fiji, Cambodia, East Timor, and India during 2003, bringing Australia’s network of MOUs to eight. These MOUs are umbrella arrangements that set out a framework for bilateral cooperation in law enforcement, defense, intelligence, customs, and immigration.
The MOU with the Philippines facilitated cooperation between the Australian Federal Police and the Philippine National Police, including in the investigation of the bombing in Davao City in the southern Philippines in March 2003, in which 17 were killed, including one US citizen. In Indonesia, the joint Australian and Indonesian police investigation into the Bali bombings in October 2002 that killed 202, including 88 Australians, is testimony to the successful combination of Australian and Indonesian investigative and forensic techniques -- and a model for successful international cooperation to bring perpetrators of terrorism to justice. By November 2003, 36 suspects were in Indonesian custody. Among these, 29 had been convicted and an additional four were before the courts.
In the Pacific Islands, Australia has continued working with the region’s key political body -- the Pacific Islands Forum -- and with other regional entities such as the South Pacific Chiefs of Police Conference, the Oceania Customs Organization, and the Pacific Immigration Directors Conference, to reduce the possibility of countries in the region being exploited by terrorists and to combat organized crime.
The APEC Leaders’ Summit in 2003 endorsed two Australian counterterrorism-related initiatives: advance passenger information systems and development of a regional alert system. Australia is working hard in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum to focus on the very real danger of terrorism and ways to counter it. In June 2003, Australia and Singapore co-hosted a seminar on managing the consequences of a major terrorist attack, which focused on practical measures that governments can take to recover from such an incident.
Australia is a party to 11 of the 12 international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism.
Read the whole report at www.state.gov.
Last update: Tuesday, 28 October 2008 GMT+1000
