White House Releases New Terror War Strategy

The White House today released an updated National Strategy for Combating Terrorism (NSCT), outlining strategic changes in the war on terror since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Calling terrorists “not the same enemy we faced on Sept. 11,” the report states that “Our effective counterterrorist efforts in part have forced the terrorists to evolve and modify their ways of doing business.”

Our strategy also recognizes that the War on Terror is a different kind of war. From the beginning, it has been both a battle of arms and a battle of ideas. Not only do we fight our terrorist enemies on the battlefield, we promote freedom and human dignity as alternatives to the terrorists’ perverse vision of oppression and totalitarian rule. The paradigm for combating terrorism now involves the application of all elements of our national power and influence. Not only do we employ military power, we use diplomatic, financial, intelligence, and law enforcement activities to protect the Homeland and extend our defenses, disrupt terrorist operations, and deprive our enemies of what they need to operate and survive. We have broken old orthodoxies that once confined our counterterrorism efforts primarily to the criminal justice domain. – National Strategy for Combating Terrorism

The NSCT offers four short-term priorities for winning the War on Terror:

• Prevent attacks by terrorist networks

• Deny WMD to rogue states and terrorist allies who seek to use them

• Deny terrorists the support and sanctuary of rogue states

• Deny terrorists control of any nation they would use as a base and launching pad for terror

The report was released in advance of a related speech to be delivered later today by President Bush.