Letter From the Publisher: Asymmetry from an Adversary’s Perspective
By Richard E. Friedman

The theme of this issue of the National Strategy Forum Review is asymmetry – a lack of balance, proportion, or harmony.

Since the demise of the former Soviet Union in 1991, the US has enjoyed its asymmetric position and advantage as the sole global superpower. This has resulted in US foreign policymakers regarding US primacy as a fundamental premise – that the US can marginalize all other states and achieve most of its strategic objectives with impunity. The US is the most powerful state based on its economy, military, and dominant position in global politics.

The uncomfortable reality is that US power has been diminished because of adverse asymmetry. Asymmetry was favorable when, in the good old days five years ago, the US could exercise its asymmetric power. However, the lesson learned by the US in Iraq is that asymmetry is bad when a relatively weak force demonstrates that it can stultify US military forces and impede Iraq’s progress towards democratization by the tactical use of suicide bombers and roadside bombs. If the US could prevent these bombings – remove them from the equation – by all accounts, there would be measurable success in Iraq.

Why do North Korea and Iran seek a nuclear explosive device? From their perspective, the answer is apparent: to address and cure the asymmetric advantage of the US. The concept of competitive strategy is that an opponent probes its adversary’s strength and tries to identify inherent weaknesses. For example, in tennis, assume that your opponent is 7 feet tall and agile; his strategy is to serve and rush the net. The competitive strategy is to return the ball directly at the opponent’s navel, so that the advantage of arm reach becomes a disadvantage.

The following metaphors may be useful to translate the abstract concept of asymmetry into concrete terms.

• Let’s cheer for the underdog. David is an enduring biblical icon (1 Samuel 17). David, an Israelite shepherd and future King of Israel, used his sling to defeat and kill Goliath, a giant Philistine warrior, in single combat. We cheer for the underdog because we tend to empathize with underdogs. Also, Goliath is not lovable. Occupation forces, over time, become disliked and hated by the local population. US military forces, notwithstanding their security presence and good work, are not welcome and become targets.
  
• Size may not matter. In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver’s ship is destroyed in a storm and he swims to the island of Lilliput. He reaches the shore, falls asleep, and upon awakening, he finds that the island’s inhabitants, who are six inches tall, have captured him.
  
• "If horses knew their strength, there would be fewer horseback riders." This suggests the rise of Islamist power. The US has been naïve regarding the Middle East and has ignored, at its peril, the discontent of the indigenous population and their anger at the presence of the State of Israel and a century of colonial rule. Islamists harness this discontent with a religious faith-based rationale. They have belatedly recognized their nascent power through asymmetry – the geologic accident of vast oil reserves, street demonstrations, and suicide bombings.

The strategic issue is how the US can adapt to its asymmetry-induced diminution of power. We have asked friends and scholars to prepare articles regarding asymmetry and how the US can adapt to diminished global power.