[Infowarrior] - WH Redefining Counterterrorism

[Richard Forno]

Obama's Battle Against Terrorism To Go Beyond Bombs and Bullets
By Spencer S. Hsu and Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, August 6, 2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/05/AR2009080503940.html?hpid=topnews
The U.S. government must fundamentally redefine the struggle against  
terrorism, replacing the "war on terror" with a campaign combining all  
facets of national power to defeat the enemy, John O. Brennan,  
President Obama's senior counterterrorism adviser, said Wednesday.

Previewing what aides said will be the administration's most  
comprehensive statement to date of its long-term strategy to defeat al- 
Qaeda and other violent extremists worldwide, Brennan said in an  
interview that the United States will maintain "unrelenting" pressure  
on terrorist safe havens, including those near the Afghanistan- 
Pakistan border, in Yemen and in Somalia.

However, Washington must couple the military strikes that have  
depleted al-Qaeda's middle ranks with more sustained use of economic,  
diplomatic and cultural levers to diminish Islamist radicalization, he  
said, exercising "soft power" in ways that President George W. Bush  
came to embrace but had trouble carrying out.

"It needs to be much more than a kinetic effort, an intelligence, law  
enforcement effort. It has to be much more comprehensive," said  
Brennan, who will address the Center for Strategic and International  
Studies on Thursday. "This is not a 'war on terror.' . . . We cannot  
let the terror prism guide how we're going to interact and be involved  
in different parts of the world."

Calmer Discussion
The U.S. shift in tone comes as Obama national security officials, six  
months after taking office, are seeking to maintain a fragile  
bipartisan consensus over continuing Bush-era policies that damaged al- 
Qaeda.

While Obama campaigned on similar themes -- and a White House budget  
office memo in March notably retired the "Global War on Terror"  
moniker -- aides now seem to be trying to fill in the blanks, defining  
the threat and U.S. goals and challenges.

The time has come to "lower the temperature of the discourse . . . and  
soberly discuss what steps we want to take and not take," said Michael  
E. Leiter, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, the  
U.S. clearinghouse for analyzing terrorism threats. "What we've  
learned over the last several years is, nuance is important here."

A Holistic Approach
U.S. officials are advancing American ideals -- promoting political  
participation and economic development -- and attacking the factors  
that breed terrorism, Brennan said.

"We are not saying that poverty causes terrorism, or  
disenfranchisement causes terrorism, but we can't mistake there are  
certain phenomena that contribute to it," he said. "Terrorism needs to  
be fought against and certainly delegitimized or attacked, but some of  
the underlying grievances that might in fact lead individuals astray  
to terrorism cannot be ignored."

Brennan is in some respects an intriguing choice to deliver the new  
message. A former career CIA analyst, Saudi Arabia station chief, and  
chief of staff to former director George J. Tenet, he was heavily  
involved in CIA counterterrorism operations for most of his 25-year  
career, helping stand up the NCTC under Bush before retiring in 2004.  
After liberal critics questioned Brennan's role in post-9/11 detention  
and interrogation policies, he withdrew from consideration as CIA  
chief and Obama moved him to the White House.

Brennan's "Jesuit-like" demeanor has made him a key bridge between  
administrations, said David Cohen, a CIA veteran and now New York  
Police Department counterterrorism official.

Brennan has also brought perspective to internal debates over  
intelligence policy in the Obama White House, where few senior  
officials have exposure to the world of spycraft, intelligence  
officials said. Brennan is known to have opposed declassifying Bush  
administration legal opinions that authorized harsh CIA  
interrogations, though the Obama White House acted contrary to his  
advice.

"John understands how intelligence and policy support one another --  
that's a major asset," said CIA director Leon Panetta, whom Obama  
subsequently named. "He is a vital link between the CIA and the NSC."

"His portfolio is growing, not shrinking," said Mark Lippert, a  
longtime Obama foreign policy aide and now chief of staff for the  
National Security Council, which is run by Brennan's boss, national  
security adviser James L. Jones. Brennan's role spans terrorism,  
cybersecurity, swine flu and some intelligence matters. "He has the  
president's trust. . . . Folks from all parts of the policy and  
intelligence community respect him," Lippert said.

Even as the Obama administration softens U.S. rhetoric, it continues a  
controversial policy of attacking suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban safe  
houses inside Pakistan's autonomous tribal region. A missile  
apparently launched by CIA Predator drone struck a house in Pakistan  
on Wednesday, killing a woman identified as the wife of Baitullah  
Mehsud, a Taliban commander linked to the assassination of former  
Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Pressuring Al-Qaeda
Unmanned drones have struck targets in Pakistan at least 31 times this  
year, killing more than 360 people, according to a tally by the Web  
site the Long War Journal. Such attacks are opposed by some prominent  
Defense officials who say the strikes are counterproductive because  
they fuel anti-Western sentiment in Pakistan.

Brennan, who declined to comment on CIA operations in the region,  
acknowledged internal disagreements but said it was important to keep  
up the pressure on al-Qaeda.

"It's important to maintain the offensive against what are clearly  
terrorist training facilities and camps, and we're working closely  
with the Afghanistan and Pakistan governments to root out these  
facilities," he said. At the same time, the use of lethal force must  
be "very focused, and insure that we are not incurring any type of  
collateral damage."