Ambassador Tefft to Speak at Graduation Ceremony for Anti-Terror Training Program
October 13, 2006On Friday, October 13, 2006, U.S. Ambassador John Tefft and Officials from Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs will speak at the graduation ceremony for 25 Georgian law enforcement officers who have completed the U.S. Department of State’s Anti-Terrorism Assistance (ATA) program. Each officer will be presented with a certificate in recognition of their successful completion of the course. The ATA program was established in 1983 and is implemented by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The program provides partner governments with the training, equipment, and technology to combat terrorism locally and contribute to international anti-terrorism efforts. The Government of Georgia has been active in ATA since 1994. The Georgian officers who participated in the ATA training program were trained by a team of six Americans. The training covers such topics as terrorism trends, information management, link charting, surveillance, interdicting terrorist cells, source candidate surveillance, casing people, organizations or locations, source recruitment, and interdicting terrorist operations using cyber tools. The three-week long training began on September 25th. The graduates join a group of over 700 Georgian officials who have participated in the ATA program. Approximately $23,000 in equipment was provided for the ATA training, which includes binoculars, recorders, cameras, camera lens, flash cards, cases, and software. This equipment is in addition to a $148,000 rapid response trailer donated by ATA in June, 2006 to the Georgian government. The trailer protects officers and provides them with detection and decontamination equipment for responding to chemical, biological, radiological threats. Since 1994, the Department of State’s ATA program has invested an estimated $6.5 million in training and equipping Georgian personnel to respond to terrorism threats.  Printer Friendly Version
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