David Petraeus the Right Pick for Spymaster?

Leon Panetta is a serious, experienced and capable administrator – a good choice to be the next manager of the Pentagon. Gen. David Petraeus is an extraordinary American soldier. If anyone can reform the Central Intelligence Agency, it’s him. Ryan Crocker is a talented diplomat. I can’t think of a better choice for U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan.

But these appointments raise this question: Who is in charge of grand strategy for the global conflict formerly known as the War on Terrorism? The answer appears to be: no one.

Indeed, it is not even clear that the Obama administration recognizes that there is a global conflict underway. We hear instead of “overseas contingency operations” and a war against “al-Qaeda and its affiliates.” A misdiagnosed disease is difficult to cure.

In 1979, a revolution began in Iran – but it was never intended to end there. It was intended to be a world-wide revolution against the United States and other Western powers.

The Iranian Revolution electrified what we now call the “Muslim World.” Radical Sunnis said, in essence: “We now have the first modern jihadi state – but it’s run by Persians and Shia. Where is our jihadi state? It should be Saudi Arabia, but the princes there are too interested in shopping at Harrods, skiing in Aspen and drinking whiskey with their infidel friends.” From this frustration arose what later became al-Qaeda.

Since then, we have seen the advent of many more jihadi organizations – some affiliated with Iran (e.g. Hezbollah and Hamas), some with al-Qaeda (e.g. the Taliban and al-Shabaab). In addition, we have seen the resurgence of the Muslim Brotherhood created, in the words of its founder, Hassan al-Banna, “to restore to the Islamic empire its glory.”

The Brotherhood’s slogan includes the phrases: “Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.” In 2001, the Brotherhood’s publication in London, Risalat al-Ikhwan, featured at the top of its cover page the slogan: “Our Mission: World Domination.” Former Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Akef declared in 2004 his “complete faith that Islam will invade Europe and America.”

Yet two months ago, James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, described the Brotherhood as a “very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and decried al-Qaeda as a perversion of Islam.” A spokesman later said that Clapper “is well aware that the Muslim Brotherhood is not a secular organization.” He did not retract the rest of that misguided description.

The various jihadi regimes and organizations now scattered from the Western Sahara to the South Pacific to Latin America to Europe do not agree on everything. There are serious rivalries among them. But they do believe they are waging a War on the West, and they do get a vote.

President Obama has a capable national security team. He has reorganized it in a way that makes sense. But unless he assigns them to develop an integrated and comprehensive response to the threat of global jihad, their talents are unlikely to have much effect.