Fear is a Wicked Thing
Last week, ASP released A New American Arsenal, a bipartisan approach to the challenges of terrorism, energy security, climate change, and proliferation.
In his opening remarks, ASP’s President and Chair, Senator Gary Hart, reflecting on the change in how we talk about national security since 9/11, said:
Fear is not a basis for national security policy.
He was followed by former Deputy Secretary of State and ASP board member Richard Armitage, who said:
On 9/11 we were victimized twice. Nineteen hijackers victimized us and then we victimized ourselves. In our fear and our anger we turned that snarling face to the world. We feel now, the Republicans and Democrats who are assembled here with you today, that it’s time to recalibrate and reset.
It’s a significant acknowledgment by two prominent Americans of the distorting power of fear on our nation and its policies.
Enter Michael Sheehan, a former Army Special Forces officer, ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism in the Clinton administration, and deputy commissioner of police for counterterrorism in New York City. This is a guy who still says his job is to “find and crush terrorists.”
But Sheehan is saying something more, too, that cuts to the core of what Armitage and Hart said last week. In a new book, Crush the Cell: How to Defeat Terrorism without Terrorizing Ourselves and in an interview in Newsweek, Sheehan is urging Americans to move beyond fear. It’s not that he believes there is no threat. There is, but as he told Christopher Dickey of Newsweek:
Don’t over-hype it, because that’s what Al Qaeda wants you to do. Terrorism is about psychology.
Dickey, himself a respected combat correspondent and terrorism expert, summed it up this way:
As I headed into the parking lot, watching a storm blow in off the desert, it occurred to me that one day in the not too distant future the inability of these terrorist groups to act effectively will discredit them and the movement they claim to represent. If they did succeed with a new attack and the public and media brushed it off after a couple of news cycles, that would discredit them still more. The psychological victory would be ours for a change, and not only in our own societies but very likely in theirs. Or, to paraphrase an old Army dictum, if you crush the cells, the hearts and minds will follow.
There are dangerous threats to the United States, and terrorism is one of them. But if we are to achieve lasting security, we must break free of the restraints imposed on us by fear. That will require leadership from our nation’s leaders, the candidates for President, prominent Americans like Hart, Armitage, and Sheehan, a responsible press, and just as importantly, people like you.
Don’t tolerate fear mongering. When you see it or hear it, renounce it. Publicly criticize those who rely on it. And encourage your friends and family to do the same. If we all take that responsibility on ourselves, we’ll contribute much more to our security than we did by going shopping after 9/11.
