National Security & Partisan Pageantry

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Our national security professionals continue to have their work cut out for them. Since the failed attempt to bring down a Northwest airliner on Christmas day, we’ve been told by the heads of our intelligence agencies that al Qaeda will execute another attack against the U.S. homeland within a three to six month timeframe. What kind of attack they are planning remains unknown at this point. But given al Qaeda's obsessive focus on certain types of targets, it’s probably not a bad idea to keep a close eye on our airline industry.
 
Indeed, predicting the where, when and how of al Qaeda operations has always been a notoriously difficult exercise, even when the information is right in front of us. This is why our strategy had to become more offensive. By seeking to disrupt al Qaeda before they have a chance to successfully execute their plans—so the thinking goes—we’ll all be safer.
 
Yet it is the execution of that strategy that many have called into question, based in part on the resulting trends we’ve been tracking for some time. We’ve all grown strangely accustomed to hearing of al Qaeda’s operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan, and the destabilizing effect that they have to both Pakistan and our operations in Afghanistan. More recently, news of the significant al Qaeda presence in Yemen finally entered the public sphere—as it was in Yemen where the Christmas day operative received his explosive device.
 
Despite wishful thinking to the contrary and nearly a decade of costly operations, these striking variables point to a network that, while certainly wounded, has not been in its “last throes.” And it is that conclusion the experts find to be the most troubling.
 
But at a time when things seem to once again be getting worse, we find ourselves falling into an all too familiar pattern. In the wake of Master Abdulmutallab’s capture and subsequent detention, we have chosen to concentrate our efforts on fighting ideological battles that have little, if anything, to do with the challenges we continue to face.
 
For example, while I remain perplexed regarding the claim that our founders intended that all people, regardless of nationality, be bound by our Constitution, I cannot imagine that the incredibly stupid act of reading a Nigerian terrorist a Miranda warning is a significant contributing factor to al Qaeda’s recent gains in faraway lands.
 
But these fruitless conflicts don’t simply end at the tactical level. Over the weekend, Sarah Palin informed the electorate that she would prefer to see President Obama play, “the war card” and attack the Islamic Republic of Iran in an effort to halt their rapidly evolving nuclear program. How an attack on Iran would offset the “imminent threat” of another terrorist attack, I can’t be sure. Apparently that sort of analysis isn’t necessary when one is hired as an analyst for a media organization.
 
I suppose I could be kind and say these “contributions” are simply the result of a misguided but concerned group of Americans from both ends of the political spectrum. But that wouldn’t be the truth. Unfortunately, the problem our country faces is much more deeply ingrained, and it has nothing to do with good intentions and everything to do with the selfish interests of a tiny minority.
 
The truth is too many of our fellow citizens have outsourced their civic responsibility to remain engaged and informed to an ever-increasing group of partisans for whom ratings, page views and poll numbers are a more important consideration than national security.
 
Whether knowingly or not, this group of pundits and politicians is driving us away from an honest and objective discussion of our national security priorities and the consequences of the decisions we have made in pursuit of them. As a result, we are becoming increasingly divided with respect to our strategy, and that has given our enemies the chance to regain their ability to strike us with potentially devastating results.
 
In light of the most recent threat to our homeland, it is time we tune these demagogues out and concentrate instead on making decisions about this nation’s future based on a careful analysis of the facts.
 
If you liked this post on our national security, you might like this piece on why the recent GOP Q&A was so important, and why the President should agree to more.
 
(U.S. Army photo by Specialist Jerry T. Combes/U.S. Army Africa; C.C. 2.0)