The war on terror is over

OP-ED | Juliette Kayyem

What has replaced it is a way of thinking that is more honest, less ideological, and more effective

September 10, 2011|By Juliette Kayyem, Globe Columnist

(reuters )

WHEN GOVERNOR Patrick came into office in 2007, he inherited a legacy of programs to protect a state that had suffered so gravely 10 years ago tomorrow. Since the week after 9/11, the Massachusetts National Guard had been protecting the perimeter of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant. That was understandable in those early months, even years, but the Guard remained six years later. No changes had been made, despite the growing recognition that the troops had been ably supplanted by legions of security personnel.

Several months later, Massachusetts became the first state to withdraw its Guard from a nuclear facility. We shifted away from a strategy that looked tough and militaristic, but that clearly wasn’t necessary. I say this as someone familiar with the deep political and even psychological obstacles to doing so, as I was the governor’s homeland security adviser. How could we withdraw the Guard without seeming soft, or weak? Other states quickly followed, as if they were waiting for the all-clear sign.

It’s not that the terrorist threat was over. Not at all. But there were other procedures - better communications, more aggressive intelligence sharing, increased lighting and surveillance on the streets - that we instituted instead of relying on a handful of overextended Guard members rotating their way through 24/7 security.

Now, on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, there has been much talk of how the war on terror, at home and abroad, has kept us safe. But there has been far less said about the constantly changing sources of that protection, and how far it has evolved from its militaristic roots. Ten years is a long time to fight any “war,’’ but particularly one in which the enemy has changed so dramatically. And over that time, there has been a whole range of shifts across the nation that have been similar to the changes at Pilgrim.

Unfortunately, there is a new narrative being written, or rewritten, by those who are inclined to hold onto the so-called war on terror. Defenders of the previous presidential administration - most notably former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and Bush administration legal adviser John Yoo - would like to have everyone believe that their policies have been vindicated because the Obama administration has supposedly continued them. And some liberal critics of President Obama, who seem only too willing to attack him for doing more of the same (or worse) as a sort of “Bush lite,’’ play into this narrative.