As this month’s terror attacks in Syria and Nairobi make clear, organizations like ISIS and al-Shabab remain focused on launching attacks as a show of strength and resolve. ISIS claimed responsibility for the Syria attack that killed four Americans and al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the Nairobi attack that killed at least 21 people including an American and a British citizen.
The latest attacks come as a new crop of veterans take up seats in the 116th Congress, which includes freshman Congressman Michael Waltz, who is believed to be the first Green Beret ever elected to Congress.
Waltz has been appointed to the House Armed Services Committee, where his prior combat experience is expected to bring fresh perspective. He wrote a book in 2014, Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret’s Battles from Washington to Afghanistan.
The Cipher Brief spoke with Waltz about what his own legislative agenda will look like and how he thinks Americans need to be thinking about the war on terror.
The Cipher Brief: Terrorism is obviously front and center as this new Congress gets underway, and it looks like it's going to continue to be for quite some time. On one side of the issue you have some representatives who say, “Bring everyone home”, other representatives say ‘Let’s keep the fight going on their turf, so we don’t have to face these threats here in the U.S.’ Where do you stand on this and how do you think Americans should be thinking about the struggle with terrorism as we’re now 18 years into the war on terror, launched after 9/11.
Waltz: There’s a line of thinking that if we just bring the soldiers home and let the locals work it out, that terrorism won't follow us home. I think President Obama subscribed to that, folks like Rand Paul subscribe to that. I think some people are whispering in the president's ear now, and I certainly understand it. There is no one more frustrated about how long these wars are going on than the soldiers who have to go fight them. However, we can't stick our heads in the sand and wish the problem away.
I highly prefer, and think we absolutely should, stay on offense rather than defense. We need to keep pressure on these sanctuaries. We need to keep our foot on the neck of these terrorist groups. And there is, obviously, a very strong military counter terrorism piece to this.
I think there is a reason that we have not had major attacks in the United States on the scale of 9/11 since 9/11, but even on smaller scales in the last two years. I think the administration deserves a lot of credit for taking the handcuffs off and destroying the caliphate. However, Islamic extremism is by no means destroyed as a movement. In fact, it's metastasizing. And what we really need, and one of the reasons I ran for office, is because we need a broader strategy to undermine the ideology of extremism, just like we had a broader strategy to undermine the ideology of communism, and before that, fascism.
One of the strands of that is girls' education and women's empowerment. When you look at societies where women are empowered, whether it's in politics, or civil society, or business, you don't have a massive extremism problem. We need to get girls' education out of just the humanitarian realm and realize it's also a national security priority.
There is a strong tactical military piece to this, and we have to stay on offense. But there is also a broader strategic pull of government effort, the war of ideas, as it's been called in the past, and I think we need more emphasis on it.
The Cipher Brief: What are you encouraged by when you look across the spectrum of our efforts overseas? Whether it's examples of what you just mentioned as female education, or working with allied nations across the globe, where are you optimistic that its being done right?
Waltz: I'm encouraged in national security circles that what used to be in the purview of green berets, of army special forces, by, with, and through, working with locals, working with partner forces, working with host nations, that seems to be much more broadly accepted now. Case in point is the army creating the security force assistant brigades to handle the volume and types of missions that army special forces can't. Putting on my political hat, I’m encouraged by the number of veterans running for office on both sides of the aisle. That said, we're still at a record low in our nation's history. We actually went backwards this cycle because of retirements. But I am actively recruiting and encouraging post 9/11 veterans, or really all veterans, to get in the arena, continue to serve.
The Cipher Brief: Let’s talk about SOCOM. General Tony Thomas and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, Owen West, are leading an effort looking at the ethics of SOCOM. The report is due to congress in a matter of weeks. What do you expect that we're going to see come out of that? And what will you specifically be focused on in that report, given your experience?
Waltz: I don't know the full scope of that review, I'll be honest. My head has been in North Florida in a very, very granular way, for the last year and a half. However, I hope that it includes the rules of engagement. What kind of situations we're putting our junior leaders in. How those leaders are managed, or frankly, often micro-managed through the chains of command. You know, if you look at the case of the green beret Matthew Golsteyn, and other situations like that, are we setting these junior leaders up, who we should give a lot of autonomy, but also kind of give a lot of training, and frankly give a lot of latitude when they are out in these very gray area situations. So, I'm very focused. I have a whole chapter in my book on it, on how rules of engagement are established, how it's managed, and then how we treat people who are perceived to have violated it.
[Ed note: The U.S. Army reopened an investigation into Army Special Forces Maj. Matthew Golsteyn after he told Fox News in an interview that he killed an unarmed, suspected Taliban bombmaker in 2010. He now faces an Article 32 hearing in March. Golsteyn told Fox in an earlier interview that he “made a lawful engagement of a known enemy combatant on the battlefield.”]
The Cipher Brief: Let’s talk about your current role, what will your priorities be broadly, over the next 12 months, and what should we expect to see coming out of this congress?
Waltz: Well, first and foremost I'm focused on the Floridians in my district and what they need. I'm going to be very, very district focused over the next year, across the board. I'm very excited about the possibilities of commercial spaceflight, with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University leading the way on that. I just got on the Armed Services Committee. I was the only freshman on the Republican side, which is really an honor. Given my background, these broader military, veterans, and foreign policy issues are places where I think I can really make an impact.
The Cipher Brief: Is it true that you are the first Green Beret elected to Congress?
Waltz: That is our understanding. Other Green Berets I know have run unsuccessfully, and we’ve checked with the Special Forces Association. No one can find any record of a Green Beret having ever been elected to congress, so, that's a real honor. I understand there have been at least three SEALs, so, you know, we can't let them corner the market. I'm joking. I've worked a lot with my wing man, Dan Crenshaw, and I'm looking forward to getting a lot of things done with him.
