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terrorist act, and military retaliation against those Kissinger, Henry. White House Years. Boston: Little,
responsible for attacks on Americans. Brown, 1979.
In the last quarter of the 20th century, the NSC Lord, Carnes. The Presidency and the Management of
antiterrorism committees became the ultimate deci- National Security. New York: Free Press, 1988.
Menges, Constantine C. Inside the National Security
sion makers of U.S. national security policy, super-
Council: The True Story of the Making and Unmaking of
seding the Department of State. At various times,
Reagan’s Foreign Policy. New York: Simon & Schuster,
these committees have had the following names: the
1988.
WGT, the Interdepartmental Group on Terrorism
Prados, John. Keepers of the Keys: A History of the National
(IGT), the Executive Committee on Terrorism (ECT), Security Council From Truman to Bush. New York:
the Special Coordination Committee (SCC), the William Morrow, 1991.
Special Situation Group (SSG), and so forth. Sarkesian, Sam C. U.S. National Security: Policymakers,
In the wake of the bombings of the World Trade Processes, and Politics. London: Lynne Rienner, 1989.
Center (1993) and in Oklahoma City (1995), it
became apparent that the war against terrorism had
spread to American soil. In May 1998, former presi- NEW PEOPLE’S ARMY
dent Bill Clinton issued Presidential Decision
Directive (PDD) 62 on combating terrorism and
responding to attacks involving the use of unconven- The New People’s Army (NPA) is the Maoist-
tional means (weapons of mass destruction or inspired, armed wing of the Communist Party of the
advanced computer technology). PDD-62 established Philippines. It has been fighting a guerrilla war
the Office of the National Coordinator for Security, against the Philippine government since 1968.
Infrastructure Protection and Counter-Terrorism Communism has been well established in the
within the NSC to oversee a broad variety of relevant Philippines for more than 50 years; in the early 1950s
policies and programs covering such topics as coun- the country experienced the communist-inspired Huk
terterrorism, protection of critical infrastructure, and Rebellion. By the mid-1960s, however, Philippine
preparedness and consequence management for communism was in decline. Following the election
weapons of mass destruction. of Ferdinand Marcos to the presidency in 1965, a
President George W. Bush reconstituted this office group of young communists, many of them former
and formed various Policy Coordination Committees student radicals, broke away from the old Philippine
(NSC/PCCs) on Counter-Terrorism and National Communist Party forming the Communist Party of the
Preparedness; Proliferation, Counterproliferation, and Philippines (CPP) in 1968. The CPP at once began to
Homeland Defense; Intelligence and Counterintelli- recruit and organize clandestinely; it founded the NPA
gence; and Records Access and Information Security. the same year. Members of NPA believe in a Maoist
The national security adviser works in close coopera- “people’s war” strategy, in which the revolution is led
tion with the newly established Office of Homeland by rural peasantry, with “liberated zones” controlled
Security. by the guerrillas established in the countryside until
major cities are encircled by besieging guerrilla
See also ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE; CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
forces. The guerrilla siege cuts off supplies and
AGENCY; COUNTERTERRORISM; FEDERAL BUREAU OF
prompts collapse and surrender.
INVESTIGATION; FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
AGENCY; HOMELAND SECURITY,OFFICE OF; TERRORISM, The CPP laid extensive groundwork for the move-
ment, giving the NPA a strong and resilient base of
DEFINITION AND HISTORY OF
support that served it well in later years. For instance,
Further Reading rather than recruit directly into the NPA (or the party
itself) citizen militias would first be set up in sympa-
Brzezinski, Zbigniew K. In Quest of National Security.
thetic villages. The cream of the militia corps would
Boulder, CO: Westview, 1988.
then be selected for recruitment into the NPA, and
Brzezinski, Zbigniew K. Power and Principle: Memoirs of
only after a number of neighboring villages had establi-
the National Security Adviser, 1977-1981. New York:
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1983. shed such militias would they be selected to field a
Jenkins, Brian M. “Defense Against Terrorism.” Political NPA Fighting Front, which might include several
Science Quarterly, Vol. 101, No. 5, 1986, 773-786. dozen guerrillas, although sizes varied widely. A