More than nine years later, we've prevented another large attack here, crushed al Qaeda and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, crushed al Qaeda and other terrorists in Iraq, are beating the Taliban insurgencies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and scour the world going after jihadis in cooperation with local governments (or without, in the case of Somalia). We still have our bureaucracies that fulfill useful roles as long as they are directed at goals and not allowed to exist for their own sake.
I always figured that was BS and in the days after 9/11, wrote about that warning:
Intelligence and covert operations are the first line of active defense and the first echelon of attack. The aerial suicide attacks on our people and the symbols of our power took enormous amounts of time to carry out. This is one weakness of our enemy. While they may carry out small attacks using small arms or small bombs at a moment's notice, truly horrific attacks require time because they must be planned in the shadows to avoid detection. We must increase our ability to detect such preparations and make sure the information is interpreted to provide timely and specific warnings. Then, the people who need this information must actually get the warning in time to take actions.
More importantly, we must exploit the fact that these attacks take time to organize. Intelligence must track the enemy terror cells in order to strike the enemy and disrupt them by keeping them on the move and by killing or arresting their operatives. We must sow confusion and paranoia in their ranks to slow them down and get them to fight each other. Our ability to use so many weapons is one advantage of being a powerful state. We may be a large target but we are not a helpless giant. America can direct precise or massive force quickly and globally as needed. Keeping the initiative is crucial. This will compel our enemies to start their preparation from scratch again and again. Giving the enemy time to prepare only guarantees that eventually they will be ready and will strike. [Emphasis added]
Strategypage writes about how we have made sure information reaches the guys in the field (police at home and troops in combat) and how we have gone after the enemy, rather than being a helpless giant stumbling around as nimble, new agey terrorists with email accounts and laptops smash us:
Speed has always been an advantage in combat, but, until recently, rarely something intelligence analysis was noted for. No longer. And it's not just the military. Counter-terror operations involve the FBI and local police in the United States, and local security forces in allied nations. The speed in getting target information is just as important to these police organizations as it is to the military.
Read it all, as the saying goes. It is also a very important reason why "counter-terror" strategies don't work against terrorists if we don't have eyes and ears on the ground. Ideally, the troops, police, spies, and people of a friendly ally provide them. But when they are not up to the task, we need our own troops and spies on the ground providing this information.
We didn't flatten ourselves. We flattened the enemy. Let's keep the initiative and keep taking them down.
