Needed: A new financial front in the War on Terror
(Washington, D.C.): It is becoming a commonplace that the November presidential election will turn on the public’s perception of how things are going in the war on terror. Unfortunately, unless the American people themselves urgently assume a role in waging that war’s financial front, it appears the next President – whoever he may be – is going to confront more formidable foes in five terrorist-sponsoring states.
A Bill of Particulars
Consider the following recent developments:
As these dangers metastasize, American voters are being asked to choose between, on the one hand, a Bush Administration that seems determined mostly to kick the can down the road – hoping that the U.S. will not have to take politically costly action anywhere until after November – and, on the other, a Kerry candidacy whose solutions to most international problems seems to be appeasement.
Divest Terror
The good news is that – if our government cannot or at least will not act to meet the growing threat from terrorist sponsoring states – virtually every one of us can do something that might actually have an impact on such regimes and their ability to pursue activities inimical to our security and interests: We can divest the stocks of companies that do business with them, providing them with billions of dollars in resources, advanced technology (some of it militarily useful) and moral cover.
Americans hold stocks in roughly 400 companies partnered with one or more of these five terrorist-friendly regimes through institutional investments (for example, through public pension funds, college and university endowments, mutual funds, 401k plans and life insurance portfolios) as well as their own personal portfolios. As a study recently released by the Center for Security Policy (www.DivestTerror.org) reveals, America’s leading public pension funds alone own roughly $200 billion in such stocks.
The Bottom Line
By taking a page out of the divestment campaigns that brought down the government of South Africa twenty years ago and that are employed today against “socially irresponsible” companies, average Americans can bring formidable financial pressure to bear against those who would use our money to do us harm. Divestment of terror stocks is not a panacea. But it can be a powerful contribution – perhaps the only average citizens can make – to a war effort we cannot afford to have falter, let alone fail.
Mr. Gaffney is the host of Secure Freedom Radio, a nationally-syndicated radio program heard weeknights throughout the country. He is an associate author of highly acclaimed Shariah: The Threat to America and the publisher of over a dozen other books and monographs from the Center for Security Policy Press.
In April 1987, Mr. Gaffney was nominated by President Reagan to become the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, the senior position in the Defense Department with responsibility for policies involving U.S.-USSR relations, nuclear forces, arms control, missile defense policy and U.S.-European defense ties. He acted in that capacity for seven months during which time, he was the Chairman of the prestigious High Level Group, NATO’s senior politico-military committee. He also represented the Secretary of Defense in key U.S.-Soviet negotiations and ministerial meetings.
From August 1983 until November 1987, Mr. Gaffney was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy under Assistant Secretary Richard Perle.
From February 1981 to August 1983, Mr. Gaffney was a Professional Staff Member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by the late Senator John Tower (R-Texas). And, in the latter 1970’s, Mr. Gaffney served as an aide to the late Senator Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson (D-Washington) in the areas of defense and foreign policy.
Mr. Gaffney holds a Master of Arts degree in International Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Mr. Gaffney’s leadership has been recognized by numerous organizations including: the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award (1987), the U.S. Business and Industry Council’s Defender of the National Interest Award (1994), the Navy League of the United States’ Alfred Thayer Mahan Literary Achievement Award (1999), and the Zionist Organization of America’s “Louis Brandeis Award” (2003), the Western Conservative Summit’s Stephen H. Long Award (2015), the Council for National Policy’s George Washington Military Leadership Award (2016) and the IMPACT Award from Ginni Thomas and United in Purpose (2017).
Mr. Gaffney was born in 1953 and resides in the Washington, D.C. area.
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