In Harm's Way: Intervention and Prevention

Wide oceans and prudent diplomacy have insulated America from enemies and potential adversaries for more than two centuries. Today, failing Third World states, proliferating weapons of mass destruction, and the increase in—and changing nature of—terrorism increase the number and complexity of threats to U.S. security as do the growing number of ethnic and humanitarian tragedies around the world.

This report contains the insights of nearly two-dozen scholars and practitioners—including a former President—who examine in two separate sections the causes and complexities of Presidential decision-making of military intervention. Three "Strategic Papers" and a series of case studies that outline the decision-making process of U.S. interventions from Korea through Yugoslavia round out this unique publication, which offers trenchant lessons for the war on terrorism and, hopefully, the peace beyond.