Harnessing the Islamist Revolution: A Strategy to Win the War against Religious Extremism
Abstract
A comprehensive strategy to deter religious extremists from engaging in terrorist attacks should seek to reduce the support mechanisms and recruitment and propaganda opportunities they need by embracing a holistic, nonkinetic approach that aims to separate the terrorists from the general population. This should be done by addressing the legitimate grievances of the global Islamist insurgency while maintaining U.S. interests and working by, with, and through surrogates while bolstering their nonkinetic, security, and unconventional warfare capabilities. It should be for the long-term with targeted nonkinetic approaches that eliminate safe havens, promote good governance, and provide a peaceful path to conflict resolution while simultaneously refuting Islamist ideology. Though significant changes in the U.S. Government's bureaucratic organization and performance have taken place since 11 September 2001, we have yet to see a serious reform of our nonkinetic departments and agencies to put them on a war footing. Many of our efforts are hamstrung due to limited resources, poor coordination, career tracks that are geared towards a pre-9/11 world, and rules that curtail our ability to operate in an expeditionary manner. Additionally, while our government struggles mightily to identify, train, and deploy staff to the fight against al-Qaeda, these efforts are often ad hoc and are not facilitating the development of a dedicated cadre of specialists who can focus on confronting al-Qaeda with targeted nonkinetic efforts. In this long war against al-Qaeda and its affiliates, which I regard as a global insurgency, we need to lengthen the tours of key officials in selected countries and regions, create enduring stability operations and irregular warfare capabilities, build an expeditionary core of advisors, and create a counternarrative to radical Islam that is "legitimate" and peaceful.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA508750
Entities
People
- Dan Green
Organizations
- Office of the Secretary of Defense