Pakistan's Efforts to Deny Safe Havens to Terrorists, Prevent Attacks are Unclear in Wake of Bin Laden Killing

VIDEO: Did Pakistan Give Bin Laden Safe Haven?

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of State has not released information to Congress required by law detailing what Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and ten other countries are doing to eliminate safe havens for terrorists, and what those countries are doing to prevent terrorists from reconstituting their efforts to attack the United States.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released today examined the State Department’s August 2010 Country Reports on Terrorism. GAO found that State provided no information about the actions taken by 13 countries identified as having terrorist safe havens to prevent trafficking or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction through their territories. Also, nearly one-third of the assessments lacked information on the actions taken by these countries to cooperate with U.S. antiterrorism efforts.

“The idea that a report required by law under the National Defense Authorization Act and Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act would not include information about proliferation about weapons of mass destruction to me is a woefully inadequate report,” said Congressman McCaul, who chaired the hearing for the Homeland Security Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. “The ultimate job of this committee is to protect the American people, and without that information we can’t adequately do our jobs.”

“I believe (the information provided) does not provided Congress with sufficient detail andexplanation and evaluation that allows you to measure over time what progress has been made,” said Jacqueline Williams-Bridgers, a Managing Director at GAO.

The 9/11 Commission's report to Congress concluded the safe haven of Afghanistan allowed al Qaeda operational space to recruit, train, raise funds and build logistical networks to conduct attacks against the United States.

“Only by depriving Al Qaeda of those sanctuaries, destroying the organization’s leadership and disrupting the continued resonance of its message will Al Qaeda be defeated,” testified Professor Bruce Hoffman of Georgetown University, who worked counter-terrorism for the CIA.

The revelation that Osama Bin Laden had found safe haven in Pakistan for several years, less than one mile from that country’s military academy, underscores the need to examine Pakistan’s willingness to cooperate with the United States and its efforts to deny safe havens. McCaul said this is especially concerning because Pakistan has been known to proliferate nuclear weapons.

“In my judgment it’s hard for anyone to believe they didn’t know he was there. And the question is at what level did the Pakistan government know about this?” said Rep. McCaul. “Either they were complicit in providing material support to the most wanted terrorist by providing him a safe haven or they were totally incompetent to not know he was there.”

“If you build a million dollar house in the middle of a security town, someone knocks on your door and says I have a way for you to avoid taxes and that is put me on your payroll,” testified Steve Coll, President of New America Foundation, authority on bin Laden and author of Ghost Wars, noting that Pakistan has one of the lowest rates of tax participation in the world. “The person who knocks on your door is almost always, at least a regional official of the government. In a town like Abbottabad it certainly raises the question of whether ISI (Pakistani Intelligence) wouldn’t have been involved in such a racket.”