The Right Strategy to Fight Terrorism

In what has been described as an ”act of international terrorism,” news agencies report that a suicide car bomb struck the United Nations building in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, on Friday. Though details are sketchy and there is no immediate claim of responsibility, if the attack is, indeed, an act of terrorism, it reaffirms what we already know: The world continues to face an ongoing threat–and America must be prepared for the next wave of terrorist attacks.

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Since September 11, 2001, at least 40 Islamist-inspired terror plots aimed at the United States have been thwarted. And though all categories of successful terrorist attacks against U.S. targets (both at home and overseas) have been on a downward trend since 2005, the number of disrupted plots has risen considerably since 2007. In a new paper by The Heritage Foundation Counterterrorism Task Force, “A Counterterrorism Strategy for the ‘Next Wave,’” Heritage lays out steps that America should take to ensure a successful end to the long war against terrorism. Unfortunately today, the United States is not on a trajectory to adequately counter the terrorism threat. Though America has enjoyed success in thwarting al-Qaeda’s efforts against the United States, those victories have come as a result of a decade of taking the offensive in the war on terrorism. Now, though, the Obama Administration is changing course with its new National Strategy for Counterterrorism. Heritage explains: More...