Transcript
DAN BYMAN: Usually, when you begin a talk or a panel on counterterrorism, it’s customary to kind of date the panel from 9/11. So you begin by saying something like, “well, it’s been over seven years now since 9/11.” I think that it’s time we moved beyond that sort of introduction. In my opinion, there have been two huge changes when you think about counterterrorism from an American perspective in the last several years that have moved us beyond that way of thinking about the problem.
The first and most menacing in the long-term has been the return of the Al Qaeda core, with a strong base in Pakistan, where this was an adversary I certainly don't want to say that was defeated, but was certainly having serious problems by 2002, that by 2008 is far stronger than it was six years ago.
The second thing is that we now have a wide range of other issues that are politically at the front of America instead of counterterrorism. Last night, I cashed in my IRA and took my wife to the movies, and I've noticed that some other Americans are focused not just on counterterrorism, but also on the economy, oil, Russia. A wide range of issues are now competing for space and political attention with counterterrorism.
And, as a result, there is a challenge for counterterrorism, which is not simply doing their job effectively against a very dangerous adversary, but being integrated into overall U.S. foreign policy in a way that is sustainable years and, I would dare say, decades to come.
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