DoD Responses to Transnational Threats - The Black Vault

force and inflict mass casualties if necessary to achieve their goals, are better thought of as
countries without land than as traditional terrorists.
For them, all war is global war. They can wage campaigns extending over years. Without
fixed assets that we can hold at risk in their homeland, deterrence is difficult. Warning may be
short. Attribution may be slow, ambiguous, or not achievable.
Transnational threats do not represent a new mission for DoD, but a different and difficult
challenge to the traditional mission. In summary, transnational adversaries have three advantages:
1) they are willing to employ weapons of mass destruction; 2) they cannot easily be deterred;
and 3) they respect no boundaries, whether political, organizational, legal, or moral.
This Summer Study suggests ways to help blunt this threat.
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