The fundamental problem is in the name. "Counterterrorism partnership." First we need a strategy and second such as strategy has to look beyond terrorism. Counterterrorism partnership is no substitute for strategy nor the intellectual rigor required to develop strategy.
The irony is that counterterrorism has become like communism in the Cold War. The perception is anything to do with counterterrorism is going to be funded as we have seen since 9-11. Not only our friends, partners, and allies (and lesser developed countries in particular) have learned that all they have to do is play the counterterrorism card and they will receive funds, resources, and training; but also US state and local law enforcement and other agencies can play the counterterrorism card and will likely receive funding (and often massive amounts that provide dubious capabilities to really defend the homeland).
I think we need to put CT back in the box and make it the discreet operation that it should be (the other issue that many of us lament is how often our national mission forces are exposed in the media). We would better protect and allow for more effective operations of our national mission forces if we reduced the emphasis and visibility on counterterrorism. Our national leaders call attention to their every operation as they try to scare congress into providing resources. It is interesting to see Congress standing up and saying perhaps "No Mas."
Please do not misunderstand me. Counterterrorism is critically important and not going away. However, I believe it is a mistake to make it the "focal point" of our strategy. (pun perhaps intended here) But what we really need to focus on are effective policies and strategies that are broader than counterterrorism and that take a holistic, comprehensive (and dare I say grand) approach to our national security. Sometimes I think our national focus on resourcing counterterrorism is an example violating the principle of doing the hard right over the easy wrong. The hard right is getting our national security strategy right. But we put everything in the counterterrorism box from Afghanistan to Iraq to Africa to developing our SOF partners around the world to fight terrorism for us (another dubious concept perhaps). There is more to national security than counterterrorism. We need to think bigger than counterterrorism because our adversaries are exploiting terrorism and our focus on it while they pursue much larger strategies through variations on unconventional and political warfare.
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