“We will need to help countries like Yemen,” President Obama said during his State of the Union Address in January, “provide for their own security, and help allies who take the fight to terrorists.” Despite the administration’s rhetorical support for “building partner capacity,” counterterrorism policy has become increasingly reliant on targeted strikes by US forces to combat terrorists in Yemen which has generated popular resentment.
A growing chorus of voices from across the political spectrum, including former State Department legal adviser Harold Koh and Sen. John McCain, has voiced concerns about the transparency and legality of these strikes. Missing from this debate, however, is a substantive discussion of how the United States can reduce its reliance on drones and empower the Yemeni government to address threats within its own borders. One key component of addressing this challenge is the use of direct foreign assistance to the Yemeni government for counterterrorism programs, designed to help the Yemeni government disrupt terror attacks and capture or kill al-Qaeda suspects on its own.
