The Foreign Service Journal, April 2008

ly vulnerable and often corrupt environments in which the agency operates). USAID has a proven track record in preventing the misappropriation or theft of U.S. dollars, even among small-grant programs, and of rectifying the rare instances of recipient malfeasance. Accordingly, it is entirely feasible to expand this kind of engagement with- out increasing the risk of facilitating terrorist attacks against the U.S. Current counterterrorism approaches that focus exclu- sively on protecting against the catastrophic short-term risk of terrorist attacks, infiltration by violent Muslim extrem- ists and terrorist financing may be foreclosing multiple opportunities for engagement and dialogue with politically moderate Muslims and Islamic organizations. In fact, expanding such outreach could actually help “drain the swamp” of violent extremism by encouraging credible, nonviolent Muslim voices and institutions. Passing up such opportunities itself exacerbates the risk identified by Rumsfeld and others. A truly effective risk management strategy — encom- passing the intersection of counterterrorism, public diplo- macy, and support for civil society and Muslim NGOs — would make informed judgments about these risks. The failure to craft such a strategy has left USAID (both in the E&E region and more broadly) and State with neither the resources nor the political backing to take actions that would more effectively engage and strengthen a diverse range of voices of political moderation in theMuslimworld. The withdrawal of a 2004 visa for Tariq Ramadan to teach in America is a case in point. Ramadan is a highly influential European Muslim intellectual whose work has tried to identify a constructive role for Muslims in European societies. He was barred from accepting a dis- tinguished professorship at Notre Dame’s Krok Institute for International Peace Studies because he had con- tributed to a group supporting Hamas — before it was des- ignated a terrorist organization. This decision sent the world a clear signal about the low value that the U.S. puts on the work of a legitimate Islamic scholar trying to iden- tify a role for Muslims in modern, secular society. And it F O C U S A P R I L 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 27