From Containment to Combating Terrorism: The Evolution and Application of a Post Cold War Strategy

摘要

The U.S. national strategy for the Global War on Terror has strategic roots back to our national strategy to contain the Soviet Union. Changes to our strategy have been incremental and evolutionary, remaining within a geostrategic, regionally based paradigm that provides continuity. Our declaration that global terrorism is the number one threat is certainly different; unforeseen before 9/11. But our analysis of that threat and how to deal with it conforms to earlier views of combating terrorism. We define the global terrorist jihadists as a fundamentally different enemy. They combine corrupted ancient beliefs with modern technology and are organized in an information age network structure. Yet we assume that, if we pressure this enemy in multiple regions around the world, they will return to traditional modes of operation on smaller regional and national scales where they can be completely eradicated. This is fundamentally unchanged from our Cold War notions of how to combat state sponsored terrorism. The evidence of the last few years indicates that the enemy will not 'de-globalize' but will evolve into something else, continuing to operate globally. We need to understand the traditional assumptions of terrorism that drive our strategy and define a new way ahead.