June 13, 2007 – 6:56 p.m.
Congressional appropriators want to give the Department of Homeland Security more money to drum up new ideas for how to attack the United States.
This brainstorming process is called “red teaming” and involves using experts from within government as well as the private sector to devise terrorist scenarios. In some cases, undercover officials then test to see if the DHS policies in place can actually handle the tactics. Given the sensitive nature of the plots, few program details are available to the public.
The House would increase the amount the department spends on red teaming to more than $16 million, according to the fiscal 2008 Homeland Security spending bill (
“It’s one of the most forward thinking and aggressive programs that the federal government has put into effect since 9/11,” said author Brad Thor, who has been invited by the department to participate in the program for the last several years. The Chicago-based author has spent his career studying terrorists and terrorist organizations. He considers the work he does with the department to be a service to his country.
The CIA and Navy Seals have used red teaming for years, Thor said. But after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the United States was criticized for having a failure of imagination. Red teams are all about imagination. “The war on terror – it’s as much about ideas and creativity as it is bombs and bullets,” Thor said. “DHS takes imagination very, very seriously.”
DHS used to have a program in its Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection division called the Analytic Red Cell Program. That division has been dissolved and the program has been abolished. But other DHS divisions operate red teaming programs as well, such as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the new Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO). The president requested $9.8 million specifically for red teaming programs in DNDO, and the House agreed to fund it at that level. The Senate would provide $9.6 million. In addition, the House approved about $6.3 million for the department’s headquarters, which includes funding 12 teams in TSA’s Office of Internal Affairs. These TSA red teams will test vulnerabilities at rail, transit, bus and ferry facilities, which have received grant funding from DHS, according to the House report. The Senate would provide about $4.2 million for the TSA red teaming programs, according to an Appropriations committee spokesman.
In addition, one of the department’s state homeland security grant programs — the Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program (LETPP) offers funds for local law enforcement to run their own red team programs. However, the department has no knowledge if the funds have ever been used for these purposes.
“The committee expects red teams to think ‘outside the box’ about ways to exploit transportation security vulnerabilities,” the House report said. “The department should constantly test its current systems to identify weaknesses and find ways to adapt to the next threat.”
One public example of one of these plots is how terrorists might exploit a hurricane. The department’s Analytic Red Cell Program published an unclassified report on this project in September 2004. Officials concluded that while it’s unlikely terrorists would exploit a hurricane, there are many opportunities for them to do so. Attacks on evacuation shelters, impersonating first-responders, cyberattacks on 9-1-1 emergency call centers and communications towers, and contaminating emergency supplies are just some of the ways terrorists could exploit a hurricane.
Spy novelist Thor said a few of the ideas he has come up with have actually been carried out in real life by terrorists overseas. Thor said the department has a group of novelists, Hollywood producers and writers, defense analysts and other creative thinkers on reserve to rotate in and out and bring fresh ideas to the program. The rule, however, is that anything that’s discussed in these meetings can never leave the room, Thor said. “This is where I separate my patriotism and my professionalism,” he said. “And I’ve come up with some incredible stuff that would be great for a book, but this is how I serve my country.”
Eileen Sullivan can be reached at esullivan@cq.com.