Project Overview: Counterterrorism Policy
The policy team seeks to understand and
assess
the development of U.S. counterterrorismpolicy
before
the September
11
attacks, the changes in the immediate aftermath, and the
nature
of the policy today. These tasks will require reviewing overall priorities,
identifying
and
evaluating
the
different
instruments used
to
fight
terrorism (prosecutions,
military
strikes, extraditions/renditions, and so on), and determining how well senior
policy
makers understoodthethreat
from
al-Qa'ida.
Another integral partof thepolicyteam's
effort
is examining U.S. relationships with key foreign partners and adversaries
with
regard to counterterrorism. When appropriate, the team will distinguish between
U.S.
counterterrorism policy in general and U.S.
efforts
to
fight
al-Qa'ida
in particular.
The
nature of terrorism during the Cold War shaped U.S. counterterrorism policy whenal-Qa'ida began to emerge.
Theseearlier
terrorists, in the words of
RAND's
BrianJenkins, wanted"a lot ofpeople watchingand a lot ofpeople listeningand not a lot ofpeople dead." Their goals were usually tied
to
Marxist
or
ethno-nationalist agendas.
The
most lethal terrorists during this era were those backed by states, not those operatingindependently.Ingeneral, terrorism during this periodwasviewedas animportantbut
not
overriding policy concern.
As
al-Qa'idaand
affiliated
Islamist groups emergedandgrewin the
1990s,
the
focus
slowly
shifted.
The 1993 attack on the World Trade Center marked a turning point. For
the
first
time, Islamist radicals sought mass casualties on U.S. soil. In contrast to theterrorists of the 1970s and
1980s,
who had balked at destroying entire buildings, the newradicals wanted a lot of people watching
and
a lot of people dead.Several government counterterrorism
officials
recognized the danger
al-Qa'ida
posed, butU.S. policy changed unevenly at best. The 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in
Kenya
andTanzania elevatedtheimportanceofterrorismingeneraland
al-Qa'ida
in
particular,
but
policy still lagged behind
the
immensity
of the
threat.
It
took
the
September
11
attackstodramatically change U.S. counterterrorism policy. Even today,counterterrorism policy is evolving, with important policy decisions being made almostdaily.The policy team expects to follow a normal investigative regimen of document requests
and
review,
briefings
by key
individuals both inside
and
outside government,
and
extensive interviews with thosein apositiontodiscusstheformulationandimplementation
of
U.S. government policy
in the
counterterrorism arena.
In
addition,
the
team will
draw
on the
work
of the
Congressional September
11
Joint Inquiry
asappropriate.
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