When terrorist attacks became more destructive and frequent in the early part of the twenty-first century, American officials asserted that Islamist networks needed to be weakened. After a campaign against these groups was launched, Washington began to rely on some new security measures. For the past two decades, several studies have been produced about innovations such as drone strikes. What has not been seen however has been an analysis of measures that Washington unveiled in the Cold War and has continued to use in the effort against Islamist organisations. This article considers the US’s continued reliance on transferal operations. While a mission is in progress, policymakers declare that American troops would be withdrawn from a country once indigenous elements become capable of inheriting their responsibilities. In reality however, a security transfer usually takes place when a military intervention becomes unpopular on the home front.
