Terrorism and National Security Reform

by Tama, Jordan

• ISBN13: 9781107001763
• ISBN10: 1107001765
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-03-14
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

Terrorism and National Security Reform demonstrates that blue-ribbon commissions can be powerful vehicles for policy change, overturning the conventional wisdom that views them only as devices for passing the buck. Jordan Tama explains how the unique political credibility of commissions can enable them to forge bipartisan consensus on tough policy challenges. He also shows that commissions are most valuable during a crisis, when policymakers face pressure to make changes but frequently cannot agree on what to do. Using an original database, case studies, and more than 200 interviews of policymakers and commission participants, Tama reveals how commissions have shaped Barack Obama's plan for ending the Iraq War, spurred the largest government and intelligence overhauls since 1947, and driven many other elements of U.S. counterterrorism policy. In an era of unrelenting partisanship and extreme polarization, this book shows that commissions are increasingly valuable policymaking tools.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Commissioning Reform	p. 1
The Conventional Wisdom about Commissions	p. 4
Research Questions and Existing Knowledge	p. 5
Overview of the Argument	p. 7
Testing the Argument	p. 8
Patterns of Commission Influence
A Theory of Commission Influence	p. 13
The Drivers of Commission Impact	p. 13
The Political Credibility of Commissions	p. 31
The Path from Commission Creation to Policy Change	p. 40
Alternative Hypotheses	p. 41
Conclusion	p. 43
The Impact of National Security Commissions	p. 44
The Data	p. 45
A First Look	p. 53
High-Impact and Low-Impact Commissions	p. 55
Results of Statistical Tests	p. 63
Conclusion	p. 71
Commissions and Counterterrorism Policy
Responding to the First Wave of Anti-American Terrorism	p. 75
The Long Commission and Intervention in Lebanon	p. 78
The Inman Panel and Embassy Security	p. 88
The Lockerbie Commission and Aviation Security	p. 97
Conclusion	p. 106
Grappling with the Rise of Al Qaeda	p. 109
Al Qaeda's Rise	p. 110
The Crowe Panel and a New Round of Embassy Security Reform	p. 114
The Bremer Commission and Counterterrorism Policy	p. 123
The USS Cole Commission and Military Force Protection	p. 132
Conclusion	p. 136
Reforming Homeland Security and Intelligence after 9/11	p. 138
The Hart-Rudman Commission and Homeland Security Reorganization	p. 140
The 9/11 Commission and Intelligence Reform	p. 156
Conclusion	p. 176
Conclusion
Implications and the Effort to End the Iraq War	p. 181
What My Findings Tell Us about the Politics of Reform	p. 182
The Iraq Study Group and the Challenge of Ending a War	p. 184
Extensions	p. 190
Lessons for Policy Makers	p. 194
Construction of the Data Set	p. 197
National Security Commissions, 1981-2006	p. 199
List of People Interviewed	p. 207
References	p. 209
Index	p. 221
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