Since 9/11, we have made substantial
progress in degrading the al-Qaida network, killing or capturing key lieutenants, eliminating
safehavens, and disrupting existing lines of support. Through the freedom agenda, we also have
promoted the best long-term answer to al-Qaida's agenda: the freedom and dignity that comes when
human liberty is protected by effective democratic institutions.
Yet while America is safer, we are not yet safe. The enemy remains determined, and we face
serious challenges at home and abroad.
Terrorists have declared their intention to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction (WMD)
to inflict even more catastrophic attacks against the United States, our allies, partners, and other
interests around the world.
Increasingly sophisticated use of the Internet and media has enabled our terrorist enemies to
communicate, recruit, train, rally support, proselytize, and spread their propaganda without
risking personal contact.
Subcultures of conspiracy and misinformation. Terrorists recruit more effectively from
populations whose information about the world is contaminated by falsehoods and corrupted by
conspiracy theories. The distortions keep alive grievances and filter out facts that would
challenge popular prejudices and self-serving propaganda.
Democracy is the antithesis of terrorist tyranny, which is why the terrorists denounce it and are
willing to kill the innocent to stop it. Democracy is based on empowerment, while the terrorists’
ideology is based on enslavement. Democracies expand the freedom of their citizens, while the
terrorists seek to impose a single set of narrow beliefs. Democracy sees individuals as equal in
worth and dignity, having an inherent potential to create, govern themselves, and exercise basic
freedoms of speech and conscience. The terrorists see individuals as objects to be exploited, and
then to be ruled and oppressed.
What are basic freedoms of speech?
Who are the terrorists?
Communications, which allow terrorists the ability to receive, store, manipulate, and
exchange information. The methods by which terrorists communicate are numerous and
varied. Our enemies rely on couriers and face-to-face contacts with associates and tend to
use what is accessible in their local areas as well as what they can afford. They also use
today’s technologies with increasing acumen and sophistication. This is especially true with
the Internet, which they exploit to create and disseminate propaganda, recruit new members,
raise funds and other material resources, provide instruction on weapons and tactics, and
plan operations. Without a communications ability, terrorist groups cannot effectively
organize operations, execute attacks, or spread their ideology. We and our partners will
continue to target the communication nodes of our enemy.
Propaganda operations, which are used by terrorists to justify violent action as well as
inspire individuals to support or join the movement. The ability of terrorists to exploit the
Internet and 24/7 worldwide media coverage allows them to bolster their prominence as well
as feed a steady diet of radical ideology, twisted images, and conspiracy theories to potential
National Strategy for Combating Terrorism 13
recruits in all corners of the globe. Besides a global reach, these technologies allow
terrorists to propagate their message quickly, often before an effective counter to terrorist
Prevent and respond to a WMD-related terrorist attack. Once the possibility of a WMD attack
against the United States has been detected, we will seek to contain, interdict, and eliminate the
National Strategy for Combating Terrorism 15
threat. We will continue to develop requisite capabilities to eliminate the possibility of a WMD
operation and to prevent a possible follow-on attack. We will prepare ourselves for possible
WMD incidents by developing capabilities to manage the range of consequences that may result
from such an attack against the United States or our interests around the world.
Define the nature and source of a terrorist-employed WMD device. Should a WMD terrorist
attack occur, the rapid identification of the source and perpetrator of an attack will enable our
response efforts and may be critical in disrupting follow-on attacks. We will develop the
capability to assign responsibility for the intended or actual use of WMD via accurate attribution
– the rapid fusion of technical forensic data with intelligence and law enforcement information.
Iran?
Iran remains the most active state sponsor of international terrorism. Through its Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps and Ministry of Intelligence and Security, the regime in Tehran
plans terrorist operations and supports groups such as Lebanese Hizballah, Hamas, and Palestine
Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Iran also remains unwilling to account for and bring to justice senior
al-Qaida members it detained in 2003. Most troubling is the potential WMD-terrorism nexus
that emanates from Tehran. Syria also is a significant state sponsor of terrorism and thus a
priority for concern. The regime in Damascus supports and provides haven to Hizballah,
Hamas, and PIJ. We will continue to stand with the people of Iran and Syria against the regimes
that oppress them at home and sponsor terror abroad.
While Iranian and Syrian terrorist activities are especially worrisome, we are pressing all state
sponsors to take the steps that are required to have state sponsorship designation rescinded.
In the United States we have developed a domestic legal system that supports
effective investigation and prosecution of terrorist activities while preserving individual privacy,
the First Amendment rights of association, religious freedom, free speech, and other civil rights.
Cyber safehavens. The Internet provides an inexpensive, anonymous, geographically
unbounded, and largely unregulated virtual haven for terrorists. Our enemies use the Internet to
develop and disseminate propaganda, recruit new members, raise and transfer funds, train
members on weapons use and tactics, and plan operations. Terrorist organizations can use
virtual safehavens based anywhere in the world, regardless of where their members or
operatives are located. Use of the Internet, however, creates opportunities for us to exploit. To
counter terrorist use of the Internet as a virtual sanctuary, we will discredit terrorist propaganda
by promoting truthful and peaceful messages. We will seek ultimately to deny the Internet to
the terrorists as an effective safehaven for their propaganda, proselytizing, recruitment, fundraising,
training, and operational planning.
The War on Terror will be a long war. Yet we have mobilized to win other long wars, and we can
and will win this one. During the Cold War we created an array of domestic and international
institutions and enduring partnerships to defeat the threat of communism. Today, we require similar
transformational structures to carry forward the fight against terror and to help ensure our ultimate
success:
Since the September 11 attacks, America is safer, but we are not yet safe.
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/images/09/05/combating.terrorism.pdf
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