U.S. Counterterrorism Landscape: An Examination of Policy and Strategy Using a Conceptual Approach.

摘要

This thesis uses Graham Allison's conceptual models to examine foreign policy decisions made in response to terrorist attacks on the American embassies in 1998, the attacks on September 11, 2001, and the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. In particular, several lessons in the areas of strategy, policy, and parochialism apply to the strategic security environment. The analysis concludes that the counterterrorism landscape and U.S. policy must generate a more focused national strategy for counterterrorism that unifies and builds upon lessons learned and the principles set forth in national security strategy. Terrorism continues to pose a threat to the national security of the United States, and while various U.S. government agencies share a burden in countering this threat, the natural tensions between agencies have often led to fractured strategies, and incoherent methods to counterterrorism. The analysis highlights the need for cultural and organizational shifts to develop and implement a coherent unity of effort and the required collaboration underscored in the 9/11 Commission Report.