The Antiterrorism Assistance (ATA) program, created in 1983 by the US State Department, has served as the primary provider of U.S. government antiterrorism training and equipment to law-enforcement agencies of partner nations throughout the world. It has also delivered counterterrorism training to more than 90,000 law enforcement personnel from 154 countries.
From prevention of terrorist attacks to responding to and mitigating terrorist attacks, ATA helps partner nations build critical capabilities across a wide spectrum of counterterrorism skills. From 2015-2017, DevTech worked closely with the Bureau of Counterterrorism (CT) and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) to comprehensively evaluate the CT and ATA program. The ATA country programs in Jordan, Niger and Indonesia were selected as case studies. The ATA provides training courses, consultations, mentorships, seminars, and equipment relevant to investigations, border security, protection of critical targets, leadership and management, regional coordination and cooperation, critical incident response and management, and cyber security.
Upon our three-phase evaluation of the ATA program DevTech recommended:
- A review of the ATA program’s role in serving police priorities and the underlying assumptions, theory of change, and overarching strategic objectives that guide ATA’s planning of program activities and focus areas
- A performance evaluation to identify the results of ATA programming
- A review of the cost effectiveness and administration of the ATA program
DevTech improves the security, transparency, and the capacity of urban and local governments in countries around the world. From helping a developing country establish autonomy and accountability to broadening rule of law, our goal is to build stronger democratic societies in which citizens are safe, informed, and free. Our projects exist in a variety of permissible and non-permissible places from conflict zones to middle and high income countries. To learn more about this project and DevTech’s capabilities, please visit the page for this project here.
