The Selection Pressure of Counterterrorism Policy
The claim
Sustained counterterrorism pressure works like natural selection. A large footprint does not just attrit an adversary, it breeds a better one.
Since the AUMF, transnational counterterrorism campaigns have ebbed and flowed across administrations, with more or fewer targeted strikes, groups listed and delisted as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and resources reallocated with each National Defense Strategy. The paper models these administrations as a large predator exerting varying selection pressure on its prey.
“These administrations, similar to a large predator, elicit various selection pressures upon their prey.”
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