In October 2005, President Bush said, "The murderous ideology of the Islamic radicals is the great challenge of our new century" (4). Further, the National Military Strategic Plan/or the War on Terrorism (2006) states that violent extremism is the primary threat to the US, its allies, and interests. Given the nature of the threat, it is clear that understanding the sources of Islamic extremism is critically important to designing a
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strategy to counter or eliminate them. However, the NSS and other current US strategy documents, international organizations, NGOs and civilian experts, and Islamic extremists identify different sources of Islamic extremism. This thesis seeks to answer the question, Has the NSS properly identified the sources of Islamic extremism? This thesis also aims to determine if there are gaps in US security and counterterrorism strategy, and to make recommendations on how to improve those strategies.