Unresolved U.S. Strategy on

Jihad and the War of Ideas

no counterterrorismblog

By Jeffrey Imm

An unresolved question remains who in the U.S. Government is accountable for the wartime "war of ideas" against Jihadists. Last fall, Senator Joe Lieberman questioned the FBI, the DHS, the Director of National Intelligence, and the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) about their organizations' role in the "war on ideas" against jihadists. The answer was a giant shrugging of shoulders.

The Washington Times reported that: "FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III revealed during the hearing that the FBI has no counterideology response other than its 'outreach' to Muslim-American communities so they 'understand the FBI' and address 'the radicalization issue'. "

" Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff also said nothing is being done domestically to battle Islamist extremist ideas. The department's incident management team, he said, is focused on civil rights or civil liberties -- not fighting terrorists' ideology."

"Retired Vice Adm. Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence, said the intelligence community does not conduct any battle of ideas against terrorists in the United States unless there is a foreign connection."

Regarding the NCTC, the Washington Times reported: "Retired Vice Adm. Scott Redd, [then] head of the National Counterterrorism Center who has a strategic operational role in countering terrorism, said one of the 'four pillars' of the U.S. war strategy is the 'war of ideas,' but he noted that there is no 'home office' for that effort in the United States." Michael Leiter then replaced Vice Admiral Redd a few months later in November 2007.

So on May 6, when the NCTC Acting Director Michael Leiter had a confirmation hearing with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Mr. Leiter brought up the issue of a "war of ideas", a reasonable person might have expected some discussion as to organizational responsibilities and goals. Mr. Leiter stated "we must have an equally robust effort in what many term the 'War of Ideas'." But Mr. Leiter offered no organizational ownership or goals other than seeking to respond to Al-Qaeda's use of mass media and Internet technologies, "[w]e must engage them on this front with equal vehemence -- and we can do so in a way that makes quite clear how bankrupt their extremist ideology is."

Yet we have deafening silence from the NCTC in response to two Osama Bin Laden messages in the past week encouraging Jihad as "a duty" by Muslims "from Indonesia to Mauritania", and calling for action against "Westerners".

While some suggest that Bin Laden's messages are worth ignoring, two months ago Mr. Leiter's NCTC recommended ignoring Bin Laden as a matter of policy in "communications". In the March 18, 2008 NCTC Memorandum "Words that Work and Words that Don't: A Guide to Counterterrorism Communication", the NCTC Extremist Messaging Branch directed NCTC staff that "[w]hen Osama bin Ladin or others try to draw the USG into a debate, we should offer only minimal, if any, response to their messages". This is the NCTC's real idea of a "war of ideas": "minimal, if any, response to their messages".

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May 19, 2008 09:00 PM   Link     TrackBack (0)     Print