Introduction
This guide is
intended for use as a companion to Winning the Long War.[1] The book is suitable for use in
academic courses and as a discussion tool for policymakers and
legal and business professionals seeking to balance America's need
for national security with other needs, such as civil liberties and
engaging the global business environment in a post-9/11
world.
Winning the Long
War considers the
lessons learned from the failures and successes of the Cold War and
takes a comparative look at the strategies and policies, both
foreign and domestic, implemented at that period in history and
those taking shape during the U.S.-led war on terrorism. The
authors speak from a historical perspective and recommend a
holistic approach to waging the war on terrorism, steering
contemporary policymakers, professionals, and citizens away from
reactionary measures and toward long-term solutions.
The guide
summarizes each chapter of the book, provides a series of
discussion points taken from topics covered in that chapter, and
recommends additional reading materials. Discussion points and
supplemental readings can be used to:
- Initiate
class/group discussion,
- Suggest topics for
small group presentations, and
- Suggest projects
for class assignments (e.g., paper/debate topics,
etc.).
Winning the Long
War is appropriate for
courses and discussions relating to homeland security, national
security, history, political science, military strategy and reform,
international relations, international economics,
macroeconomics, legal studies, and information
security.
Chapter 1:
Taking the Offensive
Chapter Summary
- Complacency only
allows the forces of evil to grow. Deciding to take the
offensive is sometimes the only way to manage impending
threats.
- The Cold War shaped
the intelligence community (IC), focusing resources on technical
intelligence collection and separate agencies. The IC continues to
emphasize tactical details and management style at the expense of
strategic understanding and analytic expertise even though the
primary threat to U.S. interests has shifted from the Soviet Union
to international terrorism.
- The U.S. must focus
its military resources on missions that are vital to the nation,
such as fighting the immediate war on terrorism, preparing for
unconventional warfare, maintaining an adequate capability to deter
aggression against American interests and allies, and contributing
to homeland defense.
- Winning the peace
is part of winning the war. Developing the capabilities to manage
post-conflict operations and win the peace must be part of the U.S.
defense strategy. Development will require reforming military
education, restructuring overseas commands, establishing special
post-conflict units, and undertaking an equipment acquisition
program to assist in integrating military and domestic security
operations in post-conflict situations.
Discussion Questions
- What are some
similarities and differences between the Cold War and the global
war on terrorism?
- What threats does
each of the three kinds of states pose to the U.S., its interests
and its allies, and how can the U.S. mitigate these threats?
Consider measures that could be undertaken by the federal
government or by the private sector and that might be implemented
by the military, diplomatic agents, the intelligence community, or
through economic and education policy.
- Think of specific
suggestions for adapting, integrating, or reorganizing the current
IC (or any number of its components) to better address
national security needs on a strategic level.
- What are specific
programs and reforms the U.S. military can implement to prepare for
and execute post-conflict operations? What are some ways the U.S.
could facilitate cooperation with its allies and the private sector
in post-conflict operations in order to achieve an effective
distribution of responsibility among its military, allies, and the
private sector?
Additional Resources
Arreguin-Toft,
Ivan, "How the Weak Win Wars: A Theory of Asymmetric Conflict,"
International Security, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Summer 2001), pp.
93-128.
Echevarria, Antuilo
J., Toward an American Way of War (Carlisle, Pa.: Strategic
Studies Institute, 2004).
Executive Order
12333, "United States Intelligence Activities," December 4, 1981,
at www.cia.gov/cia/information/ eo12333.html.
U.S. Department of
Defense, "Transformation," at
www.dod.mil/transformation/.
Chapter 2:
Protecting the Homeland
Chapter Summary
- Defending the
homeland is a strategic problem. A cohesive strategy requires an
overarching idea to govern the establishment and implementation of
priorities and the integration of the public and private
sectors.
- America must think
through its response to the next 9/11. Thinking about, preparing
for, and responding to attacks will lessen the chance for
terrorists to succeed and can mitigate the damage they cause by
attacks or attempted attacks.
- Congress must
streamline oversight of homeland security in order to ensure that
those who are charged with protecting the homeland have the
necessary resources and are adequately fulfilling their
responsibilities.
- Federal funds
should be focused on making all Americans safer. Strategy-directed
spending would focus on creating a national preparedness and
response system and on expanding the national capacity to respond
to catastrophic terrorist attacks.
- Protecting the
homeland is a responsibility that is shared among all sectors of
society. An effective strategy will establish layers of
complementary security measures implemented by people who cooperate
and share information with one another.
Discussion Questions
- The Homeland
Security Strategy of 2002 established six critical mission areas
for defending the homeland. Would you define the mission
differently? Should any of these mission areas be eliminated or
merged? Would you add mission areas? Why?
- Compare the
American response to terrorism and the U.S. role in the war on
terrorism to Clausewitz's theory of a trinity of military force,
rational leadership, and national will as the governors of war. How
does the war on terrorism affect, or how is it affected by,
the U.S. homeland security strategy?
- Suggest ways in
which the Department of Homeland Security can facilitate the
inclusion of state and local governments and the private
sector in establishing complementary layers of security to protect
the homeland.
- How does America's
international standing bear on its homeland security strategy?
Think of specific ways in which U.S. foreign policy could help to
achieve the national homeland security strategy while maintaining
or improving America's standing abroad.
Additional Resources
Advisory Panel to
Assess the Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving
Weapons of Mass Destruction, Implementing the National
Strategy, Fourth Annual Report to the President and the
Congress of the Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response
Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction,
December 15, 2002, at
www.rand.org/nsrd/terrpanel/terror4.pdf.
Falkenrath, Richard
A., "The Problems of Preparedness: Challenges Facing the U.S.
Domestic Preparedness Program," Executive Session on Domestic
Preparedness Discussion Paper, John F. Kennedy School of
Government, Harvard University, 2000, p. 1.
Office of Homeland
Security, The White House, "National Strategy for Homeland
Security," July 2002, at
www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/book/.
U.S. Department of
Homeland Security Web site, at
www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/.
Chapter 3:
Between Liberty and Order
Chapter Summary
- Achieving a proper
balance between order and liberty is vital to the national
well-being. American lawmakers must protect the civil rights of
American citizens, but they must also ensure that the nation and
its people are protected from foreign and/or independent would-be
attackers.
- Those who opposed
the anti-terrorism measures in the years immediately following the
9/11 attacks generally either feared the expansion of executive
power and/or the growth of technology or acted based on their own
political interests.
- History teaches
that a nation cannot deal with its enemies by doing nothing. We are
also reminded that the balance between liberty and order is
not static. Rather, the balance swings one way or another in
reaction to the circumstances of the day and corrects itself
over time.
- Caution is
required. The full extent of the emerging terrorist threat is not
yet known; it differs from the Cold War, however, in being
asymmetrical.
- The U.S. should
establish a set of principles that are capable of guarding its
treatment of individual liberties and civil rights while guiding
its implementation of law enforcement tools and defense strategies
during this protracted struggle.
Discussion Questions
- Is it possible to
achieve both security and civil liberties? What are some ways to
safeguard both?
- There is a
perception in American society that terrorists would achieve a key
objective if their attacks effected significant change in
society's collective behavior. Is America "giving in" to terrorists
by implementing technological security measures such as biometric
tracking of foreigners inside the U.S.? Should current law
enforcement tools be permitted as homeland and/or national security
tools against terrorists?
- What are the next
steps that should be taken to provide the proper anti-terrorism
tools for the long war?
- How can the
government employ current technologies to ensure security and at
the same time protect civil liberties?
Additional Resources
Advisory Panel to
Assess the Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving
Weapons of Mass Destruction, Forging America's New
Normalcy: Securing Our Homeland, Preserving Our Liberty, Fifth
Annual Report to the President and the Congress of the Advisory
Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism
Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction, December 15, 2003, at
www.rand.org/nsrd/terrpanel/volume_v/
volume_v.pdf.
Rehnquist, William
H., All the Laws But One: Civil Liberties in Wartime (New
York: Knopf, 1998).
Rosenzweig, Paul,
"Proposals for Implementing the Terrorism Information Awareness
System," Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy, Vol.
2, No. 1 (Winter 2004), p. 169.
Stone, Geoffrey,
Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of
1798 to the War on Terrorism (New York: W. W. Norton & Co.,
2004).
Chapter 4:
After the PATRIOT Act
Chapter Summary
- Prior to enactment
of the USA PATRIOT Act, intelligence-gathering mechanisms could be
used only if foreign intelligence was the "primary purpose" of an
activity. The USA Patriot Act removed the
artificial wall that this doctrine had erected between intelligence
and law enforcement agencies, allowing them to work together and
share information.
- New technologies
can help to achieve the national goal of preventing terrorism;
however, they also pose a threat to civil liberties and privacy.
The U.S. must update privacy laws to accommodate changing
technology while ensuring that new collection capabilities can be
implemented without being abused.
- The U.S. must
implement a comprehensive, regularized process for dealing with
terrorists, including a system of preventive detention for cases
involving terrorism.
- Order and liberty
can be achieved together in the U.S. when proper steps are taken to
ensure that the powers given to the executive branch are both
exercised thoughtfully and subject to review by the judicial and
legislative branches.
Discussion Questions
- Does the USA Patriot Act sufficiently
balance the U.S.'s need for security and its commitment to liberty?
Why or why not?
- How can the U.S.
ensure that new authority granted to the executive branch, and to
the intelligence community specifically, is not abused? Who should
ensure that this authority is used properly?
- How can the U.S.
establish a regularized process for preventative detention without
violating the basic rights of detainees? Is preventative detention
unconstitutional, as some charge? What safeguards or limitations
should be put in place? Explain.
- Where there is no
law there is no freedom. Discuss John
Locke's theory that in a civilized state, law is a necessary
condition of liberty. Do you agree or disagree? Has America
properly interpreted and applied this theory in its response to the
war on terrorism? Explain.
Additional Resources
Gorelick, Jamie S.,
Instructions on Separation of Certain Foreign
Counterintelligence and Criminal Investigations,
Memorandum from Deputy Attorney General, 1995.
Locke, John, Two
Treatises of Government (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1988).
Uniting and
Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to
Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA Patriot Act) Act of
2001, H.R. 3162, Public Law 107-56, 107th Congress, October 26,
2001, at http://
frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ056.107.pdf.
U.S. Department of
Justice, "The USA PATRIOT Act: Preserving Life & Liberty," at
www.lifeandliberty.gov.
Chapter 5:
Guns and Butter
Chapter Summary
- The single-minded
pursuit of either security or prosperity means failure in the long
war. The needs of immediate security and long-term viability must
be balanced against each other.
- The role of the
economy in the war on terrorism involves the total cost of
government, not just government actions related to security. A
healthy and growing economy is essential for survival in the long
war.
- Government's top
priority is providing for the common defense and safety; its second
priority is maintaining a healthy economy that creates jobs and
raises incomes.
- To provide an
adequate defense and maintain a growing national economy, the U.S.
must focus on essential spending programs, such as defense, and cut
inefficient and/or unnecessary spending.
Discussion Questions
- In setting budget
policy, how would you rank the priorities of national defense and
maintaining a competitive economy against such other priorities as
domestic programs, entitlement funding, and foreign aid?
Explain.
- Respond to this
statement: "The better a competitor the United States is
economically, the better able it will be to provide for its own
security."
- Compare the
economic philosophies and initiatives of wartime Presidents
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and George W. Bush as
discussed in this chapter. What can the policymakers of today learn
from this comparison of previous policies and
decisions?
Additional Resources
Bartley, Robert L.,
"Thinking Things Over: Does Spending Stimulate? Do Deficits?"
The Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2002, p.
A17.
Council of Economic
Advisers, The White House, Web site, at
www.whitehouse.gov/cea/.
Freidman, Milton,
Capitalism and Freedom (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1962).
Riedl, Brian M.,
"How to Get Federal Spending Under Control," Heritage Foundation
Backgrounder No. 1733, March 10, 2004, at
www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/bg1733.cfm.
Chapter 6:
Trade in a Challenging World
Chapter Summary
- Long wars demand
strong economies, and free trade is the ultimate engine of economic
growth. The national strategy for a long war must preserve free
trade and security in equal measure.
- Building a security
network that incorporates the financial burden as a cost of
business can spread the responsibility fairly across the
private and public sectors.
- Economic growth and
involvement in the global economy provide incentives for countries
to eliminate corruption within their governments and increase
security, reducing the number of targets and sanctuaries available
to international terrorists.
- Developing
economies generally cannot afford to implement global security
regimes. Established rule of law and law enforcement, transparency
in government action, and governance that facilitates economic
growth are also required for security. The U.S. can support
developing nations that lack the capacity for good governance by
continuing to set high standards for aid recipients through the
Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) program.
- The U.S. must not
become like its enemies and shut itself off from the world. Rather,
the U.S. must reform policies that have been responsible for
driving away business and trade, lower corporate tax rates in order
to strengthen the economy, and set standards of security that the
American people deserve.
Discussion Questions
- How can the U.S.
provide security to its citizens and businesses while encouraging
free trade?
- Can the U.S.
continue to participate effectively in global trade through the
World Trade Organization? If so, what are some steps the U.S. could
take to help "reenergize" the WTO?
- How could the U.S.
government better establish or facilitate the establishment of
layered security systems or networks? What is an appropriate
distribution of responsibility for security between the federal
government, state and local governments, and the private
sector?
- Does the MCA
program sufficiently address the need to assist developing nations
in establishing appropriate security measures and good governance?
Why or why not? How can the program be improved or better
implemented?
- Many argue that the
outsourcing trend threatens U.S. national security, either by
compromising technology and information or by endangering economic
growth. Is this a valid concern? If so, how should it be
addressed?
Additional Resources
Miles, Marc A.,
Edwin J. Feulner, and Mary Anastasia O'Grady, 2005 Index of
Economic Freedom (Washington, D.C.: The Heritage Foundation and
Dow Jones & Company, Inc., 2005).
North American Free
Trade Agreement Web site, at
www.nafta-sec-alena.org/DefaultSite/index_e.aspx?CategoryId=42.
Office of the
United States Trade Representative Web site, at
www.ustr.gov/.
World Trade
Organization Web site, at www.wto.org/.
Chapter 7:
The War of Ideas
Chapter Summary
- Winning a long war
involves a struggle of ideas. To destroy the legitimacy of a
competing ideology, we must understand the enemy,
de-legitimize its view of the world, offer a credible alternative,
and evidence a will to prevail.
- Extremists dominate
the Islamic discourse and are bent on converting and/or subjugating
the world of unbelievers. The U.S. must engage in this war of
ideas by implementing a more creative and comprehensive program of
public diplomacy.
- Transnational
terrorism is conducted by extremists who are using the name of
religion to mask their crimes; their teachings contradict the
doctrines of traditional Islam. Moderate Muslims within the
traditional Islamic community present a viable alternative to
the radicalism advocated in the madrassas and by Wahhabi
clerics.
- By implementing
a stronger, more innovative public diplomacy, and by assisting and
supporting those within the Arab-Muslim community who advocate
moderation and secularism, the U.S. can demonstrate its goodwill
toward the community of Arabs and Muslims and communicate its firm
resolve in promoting the universal values of tolerance, human
rights, gender and religious equality, ideas of economic and
personal freedom, and secularism.
Discussion Questions
- What policies can
the U.S. implement to counter the widespread anti-American
sentiment in the Muslim and Arab world effectively?
- How can the U.S.
work with its allies and members of the Muslim and Arab communities
to assist in this task? Make specific recommendations for working
with allies and with members of the Muslim and Arab communities in
the U.S. and abroad.
- Muslim leaders in
the United Kingdom have requested that foreign Islamic teachers and
clerics be forbidden from teaching in or even entering their
country. Is this a good solution to the proliferation of radical
jihadist doctrines? Is this a solution the U.S. could
reasonably adopt? Why or why not?
- Can the Western
business community facilitate or assist in the acceleration of
economic reform in the Muslim and Arab world? If so,
how?
Additional Resources
Armstrong, Karen,
Islam: A Short History (New York: The Modern Library,
2002).
Satloff, Robert,
"Devising a Public Diplomacy Campaign Toward the Middle East,"
Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Policy Watch No.
579, October 30, 2001, at
www.washingtoninstitute.org/watch/Policywatch/
policywatch2001/579.htm.
The
Qur'an, trans. M. A. S.
Abdel Haleem(New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004).
Voice of America
Web site, at www.voanews.com/english/portal.cfm.