H/t Small Wars Journal here.  This is some of the best commentary I’ve seen in years on the way ahead.  Hank Crumpton, who I’ve never had the pleasure or honor of working with or even meeting, was the primary CIA Case Officer who went into Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks. He recently left the top job of Counterterrorism Coordinator at the Department of State and recently gave a talk at CSIS, their page here.  What impresses the hell out of me is I was not able to detect any overt or even hidden political slant, something almost impossible to do in this town with this politically charged atmosphere.  The questions even seemed apolitical.  Now THAT’s really something.

If you are at all interested in really good ideas for combating terrorism and the threats were are confronted with, read the whole talk and Q&A here.  But, these are some of the key extracts I quickly pulled from the discussion:

• All counterterrorism is local
• The way we pick, train, and educate ambassadors must change, they are the lead for America’s goals in any country
• Our response to 9/11 has been too “Washington-centric” lots of shuffling of the Beltway Deck Chairs, less understanding of the ground and situation forward
• Economic power is cheaper and better than deploying military power