ABSTRACT
The Islamic State (IS) sparked America’s hunt for a strategy, nimble and strong enough, to meet the challenge of terrorist states in a brewing conflict with extremist elements of Islamic civilization. This “civilization” conflict was foreseen by scholars like Huntington; however, innovations in social media and advances in insurgent tactics have created unprecedented threats to American security. The threat from Islamic terrorists at the onset of the War on Terror came in the form of a “far reaching network of violence and hatred”2 and while 9/11’s employment of civilian aircraft was a novel tactic; their structure had precedents among “fascism and communism.”3 IS’s ambition of establishing a caliphate, coupled with their success in exploiting rifts among Sunni groups and their ability to hold territory, far exceeds the achievements of al-Qaeda’s decentralized approach, making them “unlike any threat we have ever seen.”4 Their mastery of hybrid warfare and skillful leveraging of deep seated sectarian divisions that defy state boundaries has exploited a gap in American response capabilities, unresolved as of this writing.
