Judd Gregg: “Back in February of 1993, as we all remember so vividly, the World Trade Center in New York City was bombed. Over 1,000…”

“Back in February of 1993, as we all remember so vividly, the World Trade Center in New York City was bombed. Over 1,000 people were wounded and 6 people were killed. Two years later, the Federal building in Oklahoma was bombed; 168 people died, including many children. These two very tragic events highlight the potential threat this country is subjected to and, in fact, has been subjected to in the area of terrorism. The threat of terrorism was further reinforced with the events in Africa where two of our embassies were bombed 3 years ago. The Commerce, State, Justice, Appropriations Subcommittee, which I chair, directed the Attorney General to develop a plan to address terrorism which would be a Governmentwide plan, an interagency counterterrorism plan. The Attorney General, in a very conscientious effort, put together a 5-year interagency counterterrorism and technology crime plan. It was an excellent proposal. This proposal was put together by the Attorney General 3 years ago. It basically became known as the bible--for lack of a better or more descriptive word--as to how we should proceed in the area of developing a Governmentwide strategy in order to address terrorism, something we hadn't done up until that point.”