This chapter offers an overview of post-September 11 US security policy as it pertains to fighting terrorism by promoting democracy using nonviolence. The first section lays out how the USA has used nonviolence in its security policy documents, especially the 2002 and 2006 US National Security Strategies. The second part traces the varied linguistic uses of the term “nonviolence” and what is meant by it. The refinement of terms, it is hoped, will help to create better policy. The chapter concludes with an appeal for a critical theory of nonviolence that is inoculated against the kinds of imperial usages witnessed in the past.