Hearing of the House Armed Services Committee - Implications of the Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission on the Department of Defense
Federal News Service August 11, 2004 Wednesday
HEADLINE: HEARING OF THE HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE SUBJECT: IMPLICATIONS OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE 9/11 COMMISSION ON THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE DUNCAN HUNTER (R-CA)
WITNESSES: STEPHEN A. CAMBONE, UNDERSECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR INTELLIGENCE; VICE ADMIRAL LOWELL E. JACOBY, DIRECTOR, DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY; MAJOR GENERAL RAYMOND T. ODIERNO, FORMER COMMANDER, FOURTH INFANTRY
BODY:
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REP. HUNTER: I thank the gentlemen. And I might remind members, we have a luncheon at 2212, that started at noon with 9/11 families. So everybody is certainly invited to come on up, and have a sandwich, and have a chance to chat with the families. And we have the gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. LoBiondo.
REP. LOBIONDO: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A lot of my questions have been touched on already, but Mr. Bradley was talking earlier about our capabilities and what we have on the ground. I'm curious as to what you can tell us in an unclassified session with how we're dealing in Syria and Iran in this respect with-Mr. Secretary, you talked about, I think, the culture of intelligence, and are we making progress there? And as a follow-up to that, while they're not hot spots right now, at least on the front page, what's our situation in places like North Korea and the Philippines, where something could develop almost in an instant?
MR. CAMBONE: It's a little hard answering in open session. Can you just refine it a little-if you can refine the question a bit, I'd be happy to try to give you an answer here. I'm not sure where to start, and I don't want to waste your time.
REP. LOBIONDO: Okay, let me talk to the chairman about getting maybe something in a classified session.
MR. CAMBONE: I'd be delighted to do that.
REP. LOBIONDO: I understand-I figured we might be in that territory.
MR. CAMBONE: I'd be delighted to do that.
VICE. ADM. JACOBY: I might add one part-clearly, most of the discussion is about trans-regional terrorist groups, and you brought up the Philippines-obviously, a country that has been struggling with sort of local or regional terrorist groups. That's a major point of analysis and assessment inside our department, and to go to Mr. Turner's question-many of these fusion centers are working different parts of the problem, and so one of the key parts for us is to be thinking about these other countries where it may not be al Qaeda that's the key focus of attention but, from a military standpoint, we have to keep attention on all these places where we have forces operating. And so I would welcome the chance to come back in classified discussion and background you on some of the things that are happening-that are-broader than maybe the point of the Commission report or today's hearing.
REP. LOBIONDO: Thank you.
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