I’m really enjoying this series and the calm, incisive way Dr. Asher is shedding light in the subject.
I realize what I’m about to say is not directly relevant to your main point. Nevertheless, as retired CIA officer who spent much of my career working the counterterrorism (CT) mission, I want to register my disagreement with the implication that anyone was hyping the terrorist threat to effect favorable political outcomes. Thanks to the hard work carried out by dedicated national security professionals across the globe, often in harm’s way, the American people have to a large extent been able to enjoy the fruits of liberty without worrying about the possibility of another 9/11. That is the way it should be, but it would be better if there were an appreciation of why we haven’t had another spectacular attack like 9/11. It’s not because there weren’t credible threats and groups capable of carrying out such attacks. Indeed, if anything, I believe our leaders should have talked more about the threat over the last 20 years, to ensure the American people understood why continued support for CT efforts was needed. Unfortunately, as time went on, the opposite happened and, victims of our own success, Americans came to believe terrorism is no longer a significant threat. With us pulling back from our forward deployments, and as we still haven’t started to fight the ideological battle required to denigrate the terrorists center of gravity, I predict it won’t be long before this threat resurfaces in a visible way. I hope I’m wrong about that.
I need to update my comment. Having focused in my career on international terrorism, and having found baseless allegations that the government was hyping the threat of terrorism, my reaction to Dr. Asher’s statement was too narrow. I did not take into account the administration’s expansion of the definition of domestic terrorism since January 2021 and the ways in which the administration has leveraged the stated need to counter such “domestic terrorism” to pursue the administration’s agenda. Apologies for my tunnel vision and the possibility, if not probability, that it caused me to miss Dr. Asher’s point.
This was surely one of Yale's saddest moments. Why the administration did not step in and act like 'the adult in the room" is beyond me. The same nonsense goes on at all the Ivies.
Letting the students be adults and choose their own costumes, AKA teaching them the life skill of making decisions and managing the consequences (if any) to their actions. Revolutionary.
I’m really enjoying this series and the calm, incisive way Dr. Asher is shedding light in the subject.
I realize what I’m about to say is not directly relevant to your main point. Nevertheless, as retired CIA officer who spent much of my career working the counterterrorism (CT) mission, I want to register my disagreement with the implication that anyone was hyping the terrorist threat to effect favorable political outcomes. Thanks to the hard work carried out by dedicated national security professionals across the globe, often in harm’s way, the American people have to a large extent been able to enjoy the fruits of liberty without worrying about the possibility of another 9/11. That is the way it should be, but it would be better if there were an appreciation of why we haven’t had another spectacular attack like 9/11. It’s not because there weren’t credible threats and groups capable of carrying out such attacks. Indeed, if anything, I believe our leaders should have talked more about the threat over the last 20 years, to ensure the American people understood why continued support for CT efforts was needed. Unfortunately, as time went on, the opposite happened and, victims of our own success, Americans came to believe terrorism is no longer a significant threat. With us pulling back from our forward deployments, and as we still haven’t started to fight the ideological battle required to denigrate the terrorists center of gravity, I predict it won’t be long before this threat resurfaces in a visible way. I hope I’m wrong about that.
I need to update my comment. Having focused in my career on international terrorism, and having found baseless allegations that the government was hyping the threat of terrorism, my reaction to Dr. Asher’s statement was too narrow. I did not take into account the administration’s expansion of the definition of domestic terrorism since January 2021 and the ways in which the administration has leveraged the stated need to counter such “domestic terrorism” to pursue the administration’s agenda. Apologies for my tunnel vision and the possibility, if not probability, that it caused me to miss Dr. Asher’s point.
This was surely one of Yale's saddest moments. Why the administration did not step in and act like 'the adult in the room" is beyond me. The same nonsense goes on at all the Ivies.
Letting the students be adults and choose their own costumes, AKA teaching them the life skill of making decisions and managing the consequences (if any) to their actions. Revolutionary.