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08 October 2004

Rewards for Justice Program Has History of Success

Program has paid $57 million to stop terrorists since 1984

By David Anthony Denny
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- A State Department-administered anti-terrorism program with a successful 20-year history is "one of the most important tools in the U.S. government's arsenal in the fight against terrorism," says its overseer.

The Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program was begun in 1984 as a way of helping the U.S. government capture or kill terrorists who had killed Americans. State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security administers the program.

In an exclusive Washington File interview October 7, Diplomatic Security's Joe Morton said the program is "bringing killers to justice. I wish we could do more -- and we're trying."

Morton is the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security. A 26-year veteran of the State Department, he is the most senior Diplomatic Security Service special agent, and is responsible for the bureau's international and domestic operations and training programs. He was appointed to the position in March 2003, after serving as assistant director for international operations, 2002-2003.

Morton said the program had paid out nearly a total of $57 million to 43 people. Notably, about $48 million of that amount has been awarded and disbursed in just the last 16 months. Most maximum payments are for $5 million, but after the 9/11 terrorist attacks Congress raised the possible rewards amounts, at the discretion of the secretary of state.

The greatest share of recent payments -- $30 million --was paid for information that led to Saddam Hussein's two sons, Uday and Qusay. With record-setting alacrity, the two were located and killed in a fierce gun battle with U.S. forces just 19 days after the program announced a maximum $15 million reward for information on their whereabouts.

U.S. government personnel -- military or civilian -- cannot receive RFJ payments, which is why no reward was paid for the capture of Saddam Hussein, Morton said, even though RFJ had offered a $25 million reward for him.

Not all successes occur as quickly as happened in the two Hussein sons' case. Mir Aimal Kansi, who stood outside the entry gate to CIA headquarters in 1993 and killed employees on their way to work, was captured in Pakistan four years later. It happened because someone there saw a matchbook cover -- a standard advertising medium for the program -- with information about Kansi on it.

A matchbook cover advertisement was also the instrument to obtain key information on Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, one of those responsible for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City. As with Kansi, Yousef was captured in Pakistan. He was subsequently extradited to the United States, tried and convicted for his part in the bombing and is now in prison.

Typically, Morton said, those who kill Americans abroad in terrorist attacks kill even more local people at the same time. For example, the August 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed a total of 12 Americans, but more than 200 Kenyans and Tanzanians died also, he said, as well as several thousand who were injured. That gives those countries where U.S. citizens may be targets ample incentive to cooperate with the rewards program, he said.

Even more important than finding and bringing to justice those who kill Americans, Morton said, is the fact that the program can save lives. As an example, Morton said the fact that when Yousef was captured, he was planning an operation in which a dozen passenger airliners would be exploded while over the Pacific Ocean. Morton estimates that operation, if successful, would have killed around 4,000 people.

The rewards program involves more than simply money, Morton said. If desired, personal protection is available for informants and their families, and they can all be relocated to a new home in a different place.

Morton said that the program is ongoing, with Colombia and the Philippines even operating their own RFJ programs.

At the top of the program's "most wanted" list is al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, with a maximum $25 million reward offered for information on his whereabouts. Also at that high level are Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Ayman al-Zawahiri, he said. Just below them is Afghanistan's former Taliban ruler, Mullah Omar, at $10 million.

In addition to Colombia and the Philippines, the RFJ program is active in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kenya, Bahrain, Comoros Islands, Madagascar and Mauritius.

More information about the Rewards for Justice program is available on the Internet at: http://www.rewardsforjustice.net/

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)