The New Darwinism of security threats
How Resilient Is Post-9/11 America?
By THOM SHANKER and ERIC SCHMITT, NYT
Washington
EVEN with the death of Osama bin Laden, the Al Qaeda terrorist network is “evolving” and “adapting” and spreading to new havens. The Taliban weathered an American-led troop surge in Afghanistan and is still “resilient.” Hijackings of commercial vessels off the Horn of Africa have dropped, but the Somali pirates remain “adaptable” and “flexible.”
Those are the adjectives chosen by senior American officials in grudging acknowledgment of continuing threats to American security by adversaries described as resilient, capable of rebounding from terrible losses and able to recruit again to carry out more vicious attacks.
These same leaders, however, strike a different tone when assessing the effects on this nation of the 11-year-old struggle against violent extremism. To be sure, American leaders praise the heroism and sacrifice of those who defend the United States, but they are increasingly pressed to explain, and resolve, deeply troubling trends: levels of suicide among the troops and of post-traumatic stress that threaten to overwhelm the health care system.
These raise concerns that the United States is losing ground in the New Darwinism of security threats, in which an agile enemy evolves in new ways to blunt America’s vast technological prowess with clever homemade bombs and anti-American propaganda that helps supply a steady stream of fighters.
(More here.)
Washington
EVEN with the death of Osama bin Laden, the Al Qaeda terrorist network is “evolving” and “adapting” and spreading to new havens. The Taliban weathered an American-led troop surge in Afghanistan and is still “resilient.” Hijackings of commercial vessels off the Horn of Africa have dropped, but the Somali pirates remain “adaptable” and “flexible.”
Those are the adjectives chosen by senior American officials in grudging acknowledgment of continuing threats to American security by adversaries described as resilient, capable of rebounding from terrible losses and able to recruit again to carry out more vicious attacks.
These same leaders, however, strike a different tone when assessing the effects on this nation of the 11-year-old struggle against violent extremism. To be sure, American leaders praise the heroism and sacrifice of those who defend the United States, but they are increasingly pressed to explain, and resolve, deeply troubling trends: levels of suicide among the troops and of post-traumatic stress that threaten to overwhelm the health care system.
These raise concerns that the United States is losing ground in the New Darwinism of security threats, in which an agile enemy evolves in new ways to blunt America’s vast technological prowess with clever homemade bombs and anti-American propaganda that helps supply a steady stream of fighters.
(More here.)
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