Reflection Paper #2
General Instructions

The reflection paper is an opportunity for you to explore a topic of interest to you in public policy. You will be asked to find critical issues, analyze problems, evaluate them, and develop your own arguments.

The reflection paper #2 requires you to conduct research on the foreign policy and ISIS. By writing this reflection paper, you should provide your answers to following questions: 1) Are there any common ground and the contrast between Olson (material #1) and Pillar (material #2)? 2) Was it possible to address the threat that ISIS poses without committing to major military action in Syria and Iraq?

You as a reasoned well-informed thinker, diligent researcher, and good writer should first read materials provided below. And then take your position, develop your own argument, provide evidence that supports your argument, and revise your paper before submitting.

Requirements
1. The reflection paper should be 3-4 page in length and be uploaded to the submission folder on D2L

7. Special Note: Copying and pasting any single sentence from other sources, regardless of reason, will get lowest scores from this assignment. If necessary, paraphrase it and make a citation.

Material #1: Spread of ISIS and Transnational Terrorism

Hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
The Spread of ISIS and Transnational Terrorism
April 12, 2016

Matthew G. Olsen

Former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center

Thank you Chairman Corker, Ranking Member Cardin, and distinguished members of the Committee. I am honored to have this opportunity to appear before you to discuss the spread of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and the threat from transnational terrorism.

We meet this morning in the wake of the horrific attacks in Brussels last month and the recent attacks Paris and in San Bernardino late last year. These massacres serve both as a sobering reminder of the complexity of the threats we face from terrorist groups of global reach and as a call for action in the ongoing struggle against terrorism. Indeed, these attacks give this hearing added significance, as you convene to examine the threat to the United States and our interests around the world and the steps we should take to counter terrorist groups both at home and abroad.

By any measure, ISIS presents the most urgent threat to our security in the world today. The group has exploited the conflict in Syria and sectarian tensions in Iraq to entrench itself in both countries, now spanning the geographic center of the Middle East. Using both terrorist and insurgent tactics, the group has seized and is governing territory, while at the same time securing the allegiance of allied terrorist groups across the Middle East and North Africa. ISIS’s sanctuary enables it to recruit, train, and execute external attacks, as we have now seen in Europe, and to incite assailants around the world. It has recruited thousands of militants to join its fight in the region and uses its propaganda campaign to radicalize countless others in the West. And at the same time, we continue to face an enduring threat from al Qaida and its affiliates, who maintain the intent and capacity to carry out attacks in the West.

In my remarks today, I will focus first on the nature of the terrorist threat from transnational terrorist groups, focusing on ISIS and al-Qaida. I then will address some of the key elements of the strategy to degrade and defeat these groups, as well as the challenges we face ahead.

The Spread of ISIS
Let me begin with the spread of ISIS from its roots in Iraq. ISIS traces its origin to the veteran Sunni terrorist, Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi, who founded the group in 2004 and pledged his allegiance to bin Laden. Al Qaeda in Iraq, as it was then known, targeted U.S. forces and civilians to pressure the United States and other countries to leave Iraq and gained a reputation for brutality and tyranny.

In 2007, the group