Terrorism And Democracy
Admiral Turner, director of central intelligence in the Carter administration, reviews the American response to a great variety of sub-war hostile acts from 1968 to the mid-1980s. The group of chapters on the seizure of the American embassy in Teheran is especially valuable and provides new details. Admiral Turner argues for caution but not necessarily abstinence in using military force, flexibility in making "deals," patience in applying economic sanctions, and recourse to legal options.
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In his first four years, George W. Bush presided over the most sweeping redesign of U.S. strategy since the days of F.D.R. Over the next four, his basic direction should remain the same: restoring security in a more dangerous world. Some midcourse corrections, however, are overdue. Washington should remember the art of speaking softly and the need for international legitimacy.
The Bush administration has done little to contain the spread of weapons of mass destruction, even as undeterrable nonstate actors grow more intent on obtaining and using them. U.S. counterproliferation policy needs an overhaul. Its new goals should be to get nuclear material out of circulation, reinforce nonproliferation agreements, and use new technologies and invasive monitoring to get better and more actionable intelligence.
Although terrorism is a top U.S. concern, the State Department's annual terrorism report was riddled with errors. If Washington wants to win the war, it needs to get its facts straight.

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