Reply to Rumsfeld

In a memorandum dated October 16, 2003, and subsequently leaked to the press, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, asked a series of questions about the conduct of the war against terrorism. In response, FDD has prepared this White Paper exploring two core areas of concern for Secretary Rumsfeld:

1) Is the U.S. winning or losing the war against terrorism and how can this be measured?

2) How well is the U.S. military, and US government generally, fighting this war?

This paper will argue that there is reason to believe that the U.S. is making important progress in the war against the terrorists. But to build on the successes to date will require continuing to maintain maximum pressure on enemy combatants, rapidly and markedly improving U.S. intelligence-gathering capabilities, and fostering a military culture of unprecedented flexibility in order to respond with unprecedented rapidity to shifting enemy tactics