A Revised Strategy for the Global War on Terrorism

Abstract

Should the United States revise its national strategy in order to win the Global War on Terrorism? The war on terror has been accurately characterized as a battle of arms and a battle of ideas. But the National Strategy for Combating Terrorism offers priorities of action that are kinetic, one dimensional, and have a low probability of winning in the long term. The enemy draws its strength from an ideology that crosses political, religious and socioeconomic boundaries with unifying themes of hatred, resentment and willingness to change the status quo at any cost. A more complete strategy is needed to counter this ideology. New priorities of action include information operations, strategic communications and strengthening societies. These actions will help undermine the enemy's ability to transfer feelings of oppression and hopelessness into hatred and violence. With a balanced strategy, in the long run we will win both the battle of arms and ideas.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 12, 2007
Accession Number
ADA469627

Entities

People

  • Jeffrey W. Maxwell

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Asymmetric Warfare
  • Chemical Weapons
  • Education
  • Employment
  • Governments
  • Information Operations
  • Middle East
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Training
  • Security
  • Societies
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • Training
  • United States
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.
  • Strategic Security Studies