China waging political warfare against its neighbors

by J Michael Waller, adapted from article in Insight magazine, May 26, 2003 Might the People’s Republic of China (PRC) be waging covert political operations to weaken Asian and Pacific governments’ support for their security relationships with the United States? U.S. intelligence officials tell me they have detected no Soviet-style “active-measures” campaign. However, Chinese tradecraft depends more on … Read more

Casey conferences discuss ways to improve US intelligence capabilities

[IWP news release] A year-long series of conferences, dedicated to the memory of former Director of Central Intelligence William J. Casey, is a major IWP forum from which to discuss ways to improve U.S. intelligence capabilities. The series was convened in light of the intelligence and policy failures that led to the September 11, 2001, terrorist … Read more

Undermining the war on terror: Top American Muslim groups courted by the Bush administration have used their political cover to launch influence operations and extend support to terrorists

by J Michael Waller, Insight, March 18, 2003 Terrorists and their supporters are doing their best to weave themselves into the political fabric of American society, say specialists in homeland security. They are operating front groups and charities to finance their operations, and they are running influence operations to weaken federal antiterrorism laws under the guise … Read more

How terrorists use ‘civil liberties’ arguments to undermine war effort

by J. Michael Waller, Insight, March 4, 2003 Terrorists and their supporters are doing their best to weave themselves into the political fabric of American society, say specialists in homeland security. They are operating front groups and charities to finance their operations, and they are running influence operations to weaken federal antiterrorism laws under the guise of … Read more

Economic warfare: An under-used instrument of statecraft

by J Michael Waller, Insight, October 29, 2002. Al-Qaeda recently announced economic warfare against the United States and other Western countries. U.S. intelligence expects years of attacks on the economic infrastructure of the civilized world. For its part, the United States has an arsenal of economic weapons for this war, but critics fear it may have … Read more

Hyde urges Bush to oust Venezuela’s Chavez

by J Michael Waller, Insight magazine, October 29, 2002. Warning of the formation of a potential “Axis of Evil” in the Americas, an influential lawmaker has called on President George W. Bush to support the ouster of left-wing Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez. Just days before Brazilians elected radical populist Lula da Silva as their president on Oct. … Read more

The Bush Doctrine: A new national security strategy that abandons moral relativism

by J Michael Waller, Insight magazine, October 15-18, 2002 Here at last is a new White House document that doesn’t mince words: friends and enemies; good and evil; right and wrong. It’s all inThe National Security Strategy of the United States of America — the essence of what is becoming the Bush Doctrine — and it’s turning the … Read more

A resounding voice in traditional Islam: Sheik Muhammad Hisham Kabbani

by J Michael Waller, Insight, October 1-14, 2002. Where were all the Muslim and Arab pressure groups several years ago when the first warnings were raised about Osama bin Laden and terrorist-support networks in the United States? Pretty quiet, by most accounts. One of the few Muslim leaders in this country to warn publicly and … Read more

International terrorism: The Communist connection revisited

By J. Michael Waller, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, 2002. Twenty-five years ago, Stefan Possony posited the then-radical thesis that the Soviet Union was behind much of the world’s growing terrorist problem, and that otherwise independent terrorist organizations operated in international networks. Possony’s book, International Terrorism: The Communist Connection, published in 1978,[1] blazed a trail that other scholars, journalists, … Read more

Wahhabi lobby takes the offensive

by J Michael Waller, Insight, August 5, 2002. Totalitarian regimes in the Middle East have targeted the United States with a well-financed influence campaign that is being rooted in American politics. Veteran watchers of the “active-measures” programs of the former Soviet Union say this Islamist propaganda offensive bears an uncanny resemblance to the old Soviet … Read more