The article analyzes terrorist acts and state responses to demonstrate that they have differing political effects, which calls into question the political utility of a conventional military counterterrorist response. The article places terrorism within context of the present era as evolving historical conditions are wrenching warfare out of the political realm in which Clausewitz's analysis originally posited warfare's extension of political activity based on state power. The article also discusses terrorism's nebulous placement within the levels of war to reveal another aspect of terrorism's different relationship to the political realm. Ultimately, this challenges the US national security strategy's conclusion that conventional military force used in "punitive" or "counterterrorism" operations is an effective political response to terrorism. Notes