We need more oversight on US counterterrorism policy in the wake of AQAP’s confirmed involvement in the Pensacola attack
The US needs to state its objectives clearly so that we’re not bogged down in counterterrorism operations indefinitely.
David Sterman is a senior policy analyst at New America and holds a master’s degree from Georgetown’s Center for Security Studies. His current research focuses on terrorism and violent extremism in America, immigration and terrorist threats, foreign fighter recruitment, and the effectiveness and consequences of American counterterrorism efforts. In the past, he edited Foreign Policy Magazine’s South Asia Channel.
Sterman’s writing on terrorism has appeared in CNN, Foreign Policy, Time, and the Washington Post among other outlets, and his research has been cited by CNN, FOX, MSNBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. Prior to working at New America, Sterman was a contributing editor at Southern Pulse, and he interned at the Israel Palestine Center for Research and Information in Jerusalem. He graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College in 2012.
The US needs to state its objectives clearly so that we’re not bogged down in counterterrorism operations indefinitely.
The rhetorical power of using ‘defeat’ as a shorthand comes with dangers that are likely best avoided by adopting the clarity of simply stating the desired objective.