Ways the Antiterrorism Fight has Shifted as the Longest War Ends

2021-08-20T14:38:37-04:00

When the United States military completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years at war, it marks a turning point in the Global War on Terrorism, launched after Sept. 11, 2001.

As debates over the significance of the withdrawal continue throughout August’s Antiterrorism Awareness Month and well beyond, here are ways the United States’ fight against violent extremism — on the international and domestic fronts — is already shifting:

- Scaling back role in Middle East. As the U.S. military’s exit from Afghanistan makes plain, America is rolling back its hard power footprint in the Middle East. According to recent testimony of officials from the departments of State and Defense (DOD), this means countering threats from China, Russia and Iran; working with allies to disrupt terrorist networks; supporting partnerships and diplomacy; and pushing for “rules-based” respect for the rule of law and civilian control of the military.

“As the U.S. works alongside partners to address violent extremism, maritime threats, and more, we nurture strong relationships that serve as an effective counter to China and Russia,” said Dana Stroul, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East Policy, in testimony on Aug. 10, 2021, before the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism.

DOD’s activities, she said, are focused on the transfer of defense equipment and services, military exercises, military education and equipment, and institutional capacity development such as security sector reform.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mira Resnick testified that in addition to “ironclad” support for Israel, other priorities include continued funding for Jordan’s fight against Al Qaeda, ISIS and their global affiliates and assisting in the economic diversification of “petrostates” like United Arab Emirates, which she said is an “outstanding” counterterrorism partner.

- Renewing focus on domestic terrorism. More than five months after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Biden administration in June released a new National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism, including from white supremacists and militia violent extremists.

The strategy considers domestic terrorism to be violations of criminal law and other acts of intimidation or violence against civilians or a government that occur “primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.”

It centers on four pillars: understanding the threat and information-sharing; preventing recruitment, incitement and mobilization to violence; deterring and disrupting violence before it occurs; and addressing long-term issues that contribute to domestic terrorism.

In tandem with the release of the strategy, the Department of Homeland Security for the first time designated “domestic violent extremism” a national priority area with its homeland security grant program, which freed up millions of dollars to respond to these threats, officials said.

- Confronting extremism within the military’s ranks. Biden’s counterterrorism strategy calls for DOD to warn service members separating or retiring on becoming potential targets for recruitment by violent extremists. The strategy also says the government is developing a way for Veterans to report being recruited by these individuals and developing better screening tools to prevent extremists from securing positions of trust in government.

Included in the strategy is DOD’s effort to counter extremism within the ranks, which was initiated by Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III in January, when he ordered DOD-wide “stand downs” on the issue. He also asked for an updated to the definition of prohibited extremist activities by uniformed personnel in Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI) 1325.06. (An early January analysis by NPR found that almost one in five people charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol may have had a military history.)

The DOD efforts have not been without criticism. The stand downs “appeared mired in malaise,” argued Carrie A. Lee, chair of the Department of National Security and Strategy at the U.S. Army War College and Celestino Perez, associate professor at the college, in a War on the Rocks commentary. “To give extremism in the ranks the attention that it deserves, it should be folded into the regular curriculum.”

To sniff out those with such views within the military (and, for that matter, within law enforcement agencies), another expert advised focusing on individual behavior, not sweeping investigations.

“It will be hard for us to scrub everybody’s social media,” said Michael German, former FBI special agent for domestic terrorism, during a May panel discussion hosted by Common Good, a bipartisan government reform organization. “You don't have to do that,” German said. “You go down to the squad level.”

- Addressing cyberthreats and other threats. In addition to securing the border, among other traditional homeland security actions, combating terrorism increasingly means shoring up the nation’s cyber defenses, which recent events showed are vulnerable. The ransomware attacks on Colonial Pipeline in May and other intrusions into federal computer networks led President Joe Biden to issue an executive order on May 12 calling for stepped up efforts to protect the nation’s cybersecurity.

Being vigilant against cyberthreats and insider threats are specific areas of focus promoted by the U.S. Army for Antiterrorism Awareness Month.

- Redoubling support for Afghanistan Veterans. If you’re a Veteran of Afghanistan, be proud of your service and fulfillment of the mission, which was “to prevent further attacks on the homeland,” said senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Ramón “CZ” Colón-López, in an Aug. 3 blog posted by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

“We wanted to make sure that we denied Al Qaeda, specifically, of sanctuary, training ground and places where they could plan terrorism attacks,” he said. “If you look at the past 20 years, that is exactly what we did. There hasn’t been a single attack on the homeland.”

Colón-López and VA health experts reminded Veterans watching news of the U.S. military’s exit from Afghanistan to be on the lookout for “red flags” such as isolating or increasing use of drugs and alcohol. You can seek help at the nearest VA or Vet Center or call 877-WAR-VETS to speak confidentially with trained staff, many of whom are fellow Veterans.

Learn more

Watch the Aug. 10 Senate subcommittee hearing: https://rly.pt/3D58YUn

Read the National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism: https://rly.pt/3kd6bA0

Watch the Common Good panel discussion: https://www.c-span.org/video/?512182-1/common-good-discussion-domestic-terrorism#!

Read the July 16, 2021, War on the Rocks commentary: https://rly.pt/3y5691R

Read the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) statement on the May 12 executive order: https://rly.pt/3855ItK

Read the VA blog post, which has information about reconciling your service in Afghanistan and links to additional resources: https://rly.pt/3AVdsv1

U.S. Security Assistance in the Middle East | United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations...

United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Response by CPL Adam Schoenwald made Aug 20 at 2021 3:03 PM

2021-08-20T15:03:11-04:00

Wow that was a lot to digest, some of it felt like a bunch of BS while other parts were just more concerning. I wonder how many veterans are under government surveillance just to see if they will "Turn to the dark side of the force".....

Response by SGT Scott Adie made Aug 20 at 2021 4:22 PM

2021-08-20T16:22:36-04:00

The Biden approach to terrorism is to encourage it by opening our Southern Border and providing arms, ammunition and technology to Al Queda and the Taliban. Historically we used to prosecute and even hang traitors, these days, not so much. Now we just seem to elect them.

Response by SSG Edward Tilton made Aug 20 at 2021 5:41 PM

2021-08-20T17:41:46-04:00

Not a single American Soldier has died in Afghanistan for 20 months, yet we keep calling it a war. If that is war what is a weekend in Chicago? or LA? or???. All we were doing was handing out goodies to the locals. This failure starts at the top. No one cared enough to risk going outside

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Aug 20 at 2021 5:44 PM

2021-08-20T17:44:26-04:00

Afghanistan and Iraq required a tremendous amount of resources and money because they were failed states and endeavored to build up the two countries. That is a huge endeavor.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 20 at 2021 7:30 PM

2021-08-20T19:30:07-04:00

Afghanistan is not the US's longest war. The Comanche War ran for 39 years.

Response by SFC Carlos Cruz made Aug 21 at 2021 9:32 AM

2021-08-21T09:32:09-04:00

The Afghanistan

Response by SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL made Aug 22 at 2021 2:40 AM

2021-08-22T02:40:28-04:00

Thanks for the share!

Response by LTC David Brown made Aug 22 at 2021 10:41 AM

2021-08-22T10:41:29-04:00

I hate to bust their bubble but we just deployed thousands more troops back to Afghanistan, estimated 12,500 American civilians are in harms way. We left equipment that needs to be destroyed. I estimate we will be in Afghanistan for at least a year and may end up supporting the Rebels again! There is one basic military principal that was ignored, what was the back up plan?

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 22 at 2021 10:46 AM

2021-08-22T10:46:39-04:00

Real talk. It was a sh*t show from year one. We were never going to get the people to have a National Identity. Hearts and minds only with payment. And we only stayed for 20 years bc it made certain entities a lot of money. Service members did their job and their duty. The one plus is that the US is better armed and equipped. Don't read to much into fellas. Good job, no box cleanup, ENDEX.

Response by SPC John Tacetta made Aug 22 at 2021 12:27 PM

2021-08-22T12:27:28-04:00

Shifting how we fight terrorism will not defeat it. Terrorism is an concept of pursuing a conflict in an asymmetric environment that, in it's modern form, has grown out of the (ongoing) Arab-Israeli conflict. Might as well try to defeat or fight the Powel Doctrine. It's the principal means by which the PLO drew global attention to its strife with the Israelis.

Over the past 20 years we have seen a bleeding of the term into a number of activities that have more traditionally been treated as criminal activities and enterprises (e.g., gangs and the white supremacy movement). The draconian and extrajudicial leanings of the "War on Terror" threaten our civil liberties and should be resisted. As Mr. Franklin so succinctly said: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

The article's citing of the "incident" on 6 January 2021 as an act of terrorism is dangerously misleading as it gives the impression that it was instigated by some form of unallied element. That incident was as clear a putsch by the Trump administration as was Mussolini's successful March on Rome in 1922 and Hitler's failed attempt at the Burgerbraukeller in 1923.

As far as Afghanistan is concerned, that conflict was doomed from the start. AS per SOP a compliant "puppet" government was installed under the pretext of defeating "terrorism", despite the fact that the Taliban had established themselves at the conclusion of a civil war. The Vichy government installed by the Nazis in France was just as legitimate from the local perspective, which is to say: it wasn't. The US never attempted to stem the corruption within the government which was apparently so endemic to the system that it collapsed immediately once the hand of the US was removed. Shocking, sure. Even the South Vietnamese government lasted longer. Now it's time to pay the butcher.

Response by Capt Bruce Bitterman made Aug 23 at 2021 9:13 PM

2021-08-23T21:13:24-04:00

So much Bull.

Response by SSG Edward Tilton made Aug 27 at 2021 11:11 AM

2021-08-27T11:11:56-04:00

It was an occupation, hardly a war. Just stop whining about it and GET OUT. Turn off the lights and let them do what they will.