How you define a problem shapes how you address it.

A lot of things look good on an academic's blackboard in terms of the actions that need to be taken. It's almost like a football coach, when you draw the X's and O's: Every play that is chalked on that board goes for a touchdown. Well, there are a lot of yards to be made between the line of scrimmage and the touchdown.

Throughout my career, I had the great fortune to experience firsthand as well as to witness what it means to be a CIA officer.

Jihad is holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam meaning to purify oneself or one's community.

Terrorism needs to be fought against and certainly delegitimized or attacked, but some of the underlying grievances that might in fact lead individuals astray to terrorism cannot be ignored.

I want to be very clear - whenever it is possible to capture a suspected terrorist, it is the unqualified preference of the Administration to take custody of that individual so we can obtain information that is vital to the safety and security of the American people.

Is real, it is serious, it is growing, and it constitutes one of the greatest threats to our national security and, indeed, to global security.