Marshall Billingslea, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict, spoke at The Heritage Foundation last week and laid out a fairly detailed public summary of where we stand in the war on terrorism. Very worthwhile reading.
I am going to take this opportunity to: (1) update you on the strategy we are implementing in the global war against terrorism; (2) the progress and setbacks we have had in the war; and (3) to discuss the significant implications that strategy has for the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and Special Operations Forces (SOF).
I will give you the bottom line at the outset. The United States and its allies have made significant progress in destroying and disrupting key parts of the international terrorist network with which we are at war. Al'Qaida is an organization under great stress, with a leadership that seems increasingly less able to plan multiple large scale attacks because they are focused on the more immediate problem of evading coalition capture.
However, I caution that we are certain that we do not know all of the planning that al'Qaida has already done, and we are concerned that they may have set certain operations in motion before the most recent chain of events leading to Khalid Shaikh Muhammad's capture. Moreover, al'Qaida and affiliated terrorist organizations have proven capable of regenerating lost parts, and of changing tactics and techniques to adapt to our offensive efforts.
To put it simply: Al'Qaida and other related terrorist groups today remain intent on conducting devastating attacks against the United States, our friends and allies. At least some of their planning seems to contemplate the use of chemical or biological agents, in addition to their proven practice of using low-tech, conventional explosives to mount attacks with devastating consequences.
Posted by Alan at April 15, 2003 11:17 PM