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While the U.S. spends enormous sums of money and resources on its global counterterrorism efforts, the bulk of work that is done on the ground is conducted in conjunction with local partners. This is particularly true in places where the counterterrorism challenges are most urgent. In
Iraq,
Syria,
Yemen, and
Libya, U.S. military and intelligence personnel are working side-by-side with local forces in a variety of counterterrorism missions; the scale of these partnerships vary from the use of embedded combat and intelligence advisors, to the provision of training and equipment, to formal government-to-government liaisons. Regardless of the type of partnership, the success of each mission requires local capabilities and knowledge, and the foundation of these efforts is trust. The news that those paying the highest toll in supporting
U.S. counterterrorism efforts would be summarily barred from entering the U.S. could only have destructive effects.
If the draft executive order—reportedly titled ‘Executive Order on Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals’—becomes policy, the job of every U.S. military, intelligence, and diplomatic liaison officer in the Middle East and elsewhere will become far more difficult. In turn, liaison efforts in places like Jordan, Saudi Arabia, or Egypt—which are not on the list of banned countries—will also be made more difficult. The Jordanian, Saudi, and Egyptian governments—all of which work with the U.S. in the fight against terrorism—would undoubtedly be outraged by such an order, which is likely to be perceived as targeting the entire region.
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