The Global War on Terrorism: A Policy of Containment

This work asks two questions. Is the National Security Strategy (NSS) of 2002, The Global War on Terrorism, (GWOT) a policy of containment and why does it matter? This work identifies the NSS as a policy of containment by comparing the national strategies of Presidents Nixon, Clinton and Bush. This comparison shows that although the strategic environment has changed the policy of containing threats has remained. Establishing that the United States national strategy is still a policy of containment, this work points out that the military has an excellent strategy already in place. That strategy is the National Military Strategy of 1997. This work asserts that the strategy clearly identifies the current threat and if aggressively implemented it can meet the political objectives stated in the NSS 2002. Because the United States military is not large enough to fight the entire GWOT at one time, this work recommends a way to prosecute it at the operational level utilizing the elements of operational design and the operational framework provided in the Army FM 3.0.