The State Department yesterday set up the Bureau of Counterterrorism, absorbing the responsibilities of the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, in line with a recommendation of the department’s Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review.
Daniel Benjamin, coordinator, Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, said at the press briefing yesterday that the mission of the new bureau will be “to lead the Department in the U.S. government’s effort to counter terrorism abroad and to secure the United States against foreign terrorist threats.”
The new bureau’s responsibilities include coordinating with State Department leadership, the National Security Staff, and U.S. government agencies to develop and implement counterterrorism strategies, policies, operations, and programs to disrupt and defeat the networks that support terrorism.
The bureau will lead department support in U.S. counterterrorism diplomacy and seek to strengthen homeland security, countering violent extremism, and to build the capacity of partner nations to deal effectively with terrorism.
The new bureau also will lead the State Department in U.S. Government efforts to reduce radicalization and mobilization abroad, he said.
Also, it will work with the recently established Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications to delegitimize the violent extremist narrative, to develop positive alternatives for populations that are vulnerable to recruitment, and will work to partner with governments and civil society in building capacity to counter violent extremism, Benjamin said.
The new bureau is reorganizing and working to become more effective across the wide range of policy and program activities, he said. For example, “we’re creating a new Strategic Plans and Policy Unit to improve our ability to do strategic planning and to develop metrics to measure the effectiveness of our programs. We’re also making changes that will tighten coordination between counterterrorism policy and programs, and we’re doing more to improve program implementation.”
And Benjamin emphasized: “We’re doing our part to be good stewards of public funds by standing up the bureau with existing resources.”