America’s strategy in fighting Islamic extremism is not working, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency said in an interview aired Sunday.
“I think what I’m saying is that the strategy that we’ve had is not working,” retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn said on “Fox News Sunday.” “It’s clearly not working.” Later, he said, “we don’t have an effective strategy that is coherent that actually addresses the wider problem, which is an ideology.”
The general, who left DIA last August after two years at the helm, said the nation’s strategy for the past decade has been “sort of” a counterterrorism strategy, but only a component of what was really needed.
“You can’t defeat an enemy you don’t admit exists,” he said, “and I think that we have to clearly define that the enemy is, that’s No. 1.”
He said the nation needs to “clearly articulate a strategy broader than just counterterrorrism.”
Flynn likened the nation to a football team in the huddle on the field: When the quarterback says “ready, break,” the team should head down the field and carry out a unified play to move the ball. “I feel like when we say ‘ready, break,’ all the players that are on the team are going off into different stadiums playing different sports.”
Asked whether National Security Adviser Susan Rice’s recent comments that the U.S. did not face a existential threat from terrorism were an adequate response, Flynn said, “I don’t think it is.”
Flynn blamed both the White House and Congress for the lack of a game plan: “They need to sit down and figure out what is our strategy going forward.”
