About Us
In 2006 the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) published a book entitled “With All Our Might: A Progressive Strategy for Defeating Jihadism and Defending Liberty.” No small task, indeed. The book’s central premise is that America has to use all its available security tools to combat Islamist terrorism.
The All Our Might website picks up where the book left off, and pushes the debate to consider the full range of security threats the United States faces in the 21st century: jihadism; failed states; humanitarian crises; the rise of Sino-Russian “authoritarian capitalism”; the challenge from rogue states such as Iran and North Korea; the destabilizing effects of climate change; and the threat of terrorism in an age when biological, chemical, and cyberspace technologies are becoming more powerful and more accessible.
That’s just to name a few. We advocate a progressive approach to security in the 21st century and remain mindful that today’s challenges come from an array of sources. To meet those challenges, progressives need to foster and circulate the best ideas on how to balance liberty and security. That, we hope, is where this website comes in.
Drawing from the themes of “With All Our Might,” we endorse the idea that national security should be based on five mutually reinforcing tenets:
- that America must remain vigorously engaged in the world;
- that a coordinated, whole-of-government approach is vital to a successful security plan;
- that force is occasionally necessary when other avenues fail;
- that the best approach to mitigating a threat often requires addressing the threat’s root;
- and that American leaders must have patience to view security through a long-term, contextual lens in order to achieve lasting results.
Jim Arkedis is the site’s principal writer and editor. Jim is the Director of the PPI’s Progressive Security Project, joining PPI in October 2007 from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. At NCIS, he was counter-terrorism analyst for five years, specializing in terrorist networks of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
Mark Ribbing, PPI’s director of policy development, is a contributor to the site. He has worked as a journalist and policy advisor, and served as a senior speechwriter to New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 2001, helping to craft the mayor’s post-9/11 message on security and recovery.
All Our Might welcomes comments and guest postings, and seeks to encourage a useful, stimulating, and civil discussion of the vital issues of American national security. All comments and posts reflect the opinion of the writer, and not necessarily the views of the Progressive Policy Institute.