Counterterrorism Blog

Last Thursday, I was honored to chair one of four panels at a special seminar, "Dealing with Today's Asymmetric Threat," co-sponsored by the National Defense University and CACI International, with assistance from the Counterterrorism Foundation. The purpose of the seminar was to establish a framework for the development of an integrated and synchronized strategy, by the end of the calendar year, to address the asymmetrical threats to United States and global security. My panel, titled, "Global Strategy to Counter Terrorism and Extremism," included Contributing Expert Douglas Farah; VADM Bert Calland, USN (Ret.), former CIA Deputy Director; Jose Rodriguez, former Director of the CIA's National Clandestine Center and the Counterterrorism Center; and Lt. Col. Bill Cowan, USMC (Ret.), FOX News Channel analyst and President of WVC3. My comments included recommendations for the need for continued deployment of joint DOD-Treasury "Threat Finance Cells" (about which I posted here and here) and the need to promote the continued work of the non-governmental CT community of nonprofits, journalists, and independent media (including this site). I participated with senior officials at NDU and CACI in planning the seminar and look forward to working with them and the broader community towards the development of the strategy for the next Administration and Congress.

An article in today's Washington Post is further proof of the need for such a strategy and indicates the degree to which the Defense Department is recognizing a permanent paradigm shift in the threat from state-based to asymmetric actors:

"An Army board headed by Gen. David H. Petraeus has selected several combat-tested counterinsurgency experts for promotion to the rank of brigadier general, sifting through more than 1,000 colonels to identify a handful of innovative leaders who will shape the future Army, according to current and former senior Army officers... Several of the colonels widely expected to appear on the resulting promotion list, which has not yet been released, are considered unconventional thinkers who were effective in the Iraq campaign, in many cases because they embraced a counterinsurgency doctrine that Petraeus helped craft, the officials said... They include Special Forces Col. Ken Tovo, a veteran of multiple Iraq tours who recently led a Special Operations task force there; Col. H.R. McMaster, a senior Petraeus adviser known for leading a successful counterinsurgency effort in the Iraqi city of Tall Afar, and Col. Sean MacFarland, who created a network of patrol bases in Ramadi that helped curb violence in the capital of Anbar Province, according to the officers."

The article quotes retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert H. Scales Jr., former head of the Army War College. "We are in a very similar place now to the period after Vietnam in the 1970s, when a lot of officers returned and everyone was asking 'What is next?' It's time now for the Army to think about the future and institutionally anticipate the changing nature of war." Bravo and Amen.

Contributing Expert Walid Phares participated in another panel at the seminar titled, "Strategic Communications," which explored how to protect security through an effective communication strategy. Another panelist was Steven Monblatt, former senior CT official at the State Department and OAS who participated in our March 19 panel on FARC and Hugo Chavez, presented his views with some excellent and provocative recommendations. With his permission, I am posting his presentation here as a Word file for your review.