June 16, 2017
The Cyclical Politics of Counterterrorism
Why didn’t the United States invade Afghanistan and destroy Al Qaeda before September 11, 2001?
This isn’t as farfetched as it might sound. In 2001, President Bush issued a presidential directive instructing the Department of Defense to “‘develop contingency plans’ to attack both al-Qaeda and Taliban targets in Afghanistan.” After the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings, CIA Director George Tenet told employees that the Agency was “at war” with Al Qaeda. And the intelligence community well understood Al Qaeda’s grave threat to the homeland: the August 6, 2001, President’s Daily Brief included an item entitled “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US,” the 36th PDB item briefed that year on Al Qaeda.
Read the full piece on Lawfare.
More from CNAS
-
“The Ayatollah Has No Clothes” – with Rich Goldberg and Richard Fontaine
Podcast
Richard Fontaine is CEO of the Center for American Security, joins Call Me Back to assess the threat FROM Iran and the threat TO Iran. Listen to the full episode on Call Me ...
By Richard Fontaine
-
What Does Yahya Sinwar’s Death Mean for the War in Gaza?
Podcast
Jonathan Lord, Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East Security program, joins RN Drive to discuss the death of Sinwar who has long been viewed as one of the militant gr...
By Jonathan Lord
-
Russia in the Middle East with Jonathan Lord and Hanna Notte
Podcast
One year after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, the crisis in the Middle East has grown more and more complex. With the region teetering on the brink of broader conflict, the B...
By Jonathan Lord, Hanna Notte, Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
-
A Year of Anguish for the Hostages in Gaza—and Their Families
Commentary
October 7 gave rise to unexpected bipartisan coalitions of D.C. experts and legislators who lent their knowledge to help U.S. hostage families and victims of the conflict navi...
By Daniel Silverberg
