President Clinton announced a plan today to invest an additional $300 million in critical programs to strengthen the Nation’s counterterrorism efforts.

The funding would enhance the Federal government’s work to deter and detect terrorist activity, applying lessons learned from the counterterrorism effort undertaken during Millennium celebration events. The request proposes $89 million for the Department of Justice and $87 million for the Department of the Treasury to fund extra personnel, new equipment, and additional joint operations and infrastructure improvements. An additional $159 million is proposed for other agencies to support these efforts.

Highlights of the initiative include:

• Increasing the number of Joint Terrorism Task Forces located throughout the United States. The Task Forces were established to integrate the resources and expertise of the law enforcement authorities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the U.S. Customs Service, ATF, Secret Service and state and local law enforcement.

• Improving monitoring on the northern border with secure communications equipment and advanced monitoring equipment, including high resolution day and night camera technology.

• Expanding INS forensic capabilities at the government's federal crime lab dedicated to the forensic examination of potentially fraudulent travel documents.

• Supporting the establishment of a new interagency National Terrorist Asset Tracking Center to analyze the financing of terrorist organizations and expand the Office of Foreign Asset Control at the Department of the Treasury.

• Increasing the number of Department of Justice prosecutors and legal staff to support the prosecution of terrorists.

• Increasing the Department of the Treasury’s Counterterrorism Fund that was established to cover costs associated with efforts to counter, investigate or prosecute domestic or international terrorism.

Today’s request builds on activities already being undertaken. In FY 2000, reprogramming funds the majority of the package. A fully offset FY 2001 budget amendment will be submitted to Congress.

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