ASEAN to step up efforts with U.S. in war on terror
International Herald Tribune
July 31, 2002
Michael Richardson 

A new intelligence network that the United States is quietly building in the Asia-Pacific region, which has already produced important successes in the fight against terrorism, received a further boost Tuesday from the Association of South East Asian Nations.

Foreign ministers from the 10 member states of ASEAN, meeting in Brunei, said that they would sign a declaration with Secretary of State Colin Powell pledging to deepen anti-terrorism cooperation, despite concerns that this could create domestic political problems for countries with Muslim majorities.

ASEAN officials said that the declaration was likely to be signed in Brunei on Thursday, when Powell meets ASEAN foreign ministers as a group after attending the ASEAN Regional Forum on Security on Wednesday along with foreign ministers from 21 other nations, plus the European Union.

The ASEAN foreign ministers indicated that they were ready to respond to a U.S. request for a strong commitment to fight terrorism together, including sharing intelligence, blocking terrorist funds and tightening borders.

"We recognize that terrorism is a global threat and that the disturbing acts of terrorism and transnational crimes, which continue to threaten world peace and stability, must be tackled by the international community," the foreign ministers said in a communiqué.

Powell held talks in Malaysia on Tuesday with Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad and was scheduled to stop over later in the day in Singapore before traveling to Brunei, where on Wednesday he will attend the security forum. On Thursday, he will hold talks with the ASEAN ministers.

American officials said that the new intelligence network, which aims to gather and exchange the full range of American and regional information about terrorist groups, has already led to arrests of suspected terrorists and the blocking of terrorist finance, even though it is not yet fully developed.

"We've probably identified 150 nuggets that we consider to be actionable," a senior U.S. defense official said. "I'm not going to go into the intelligence side of it. But certainly this network has provided leads that are helpful."

The nerve center of the new arrangement is in the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Command in Honolulu, which controls about 100,000 troops as well as powerful naval, air force and amphibious units that operate in the Asia-Pacific region and the Indian Ocean.

Analysts see the establishment of the region-wide intelligence network as part of a wider trend among governments to sharpen their military and intelligence capabilities for combating terrorist and extremist groups.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States by Osama bin Laden's Qaeda network, dozens of suspected Qaeda operatives have been arrested in Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, amid concerns that terrorists are seeking refuge and support in other Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia and Thailand.

At the request of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines, the United States sent hundreds of troops, including Special Forces, to the southern Philippines to help the local military hunt down Abu Sayyaf Muslim guerrillas. The Abu Sayyaf group was said to have been formed with assistance from Al Qaeda and was responsible for kidnapping American and other foreign nationals. The joint operation against Abu Sayyaf is being scaled down this week after the killing and capture of several guerrilla leaders.

"The U.S. military is redoubling its efforts to develop forces, weapons and intelligence systems to deal with terrorism and reduce America's vulnerability to transnational threats," said Alan Dupont, who directs the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Australian National University's Strategic and Defense Studies Center in Canberra. "Where the U.S. goes, others will follow."

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