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is belatedly pursuing nuclear modernization it is now a matter of preserving deterrence itself, and potentially of national survival. Indeed it isn’t out of a desire for an “arms race” that the U.S. continues to rely on antiquated platforms and aged weapons. For example, it states the administration will “head off costly arms races.” Absent is acknowledgment that our two primary nuclear competitors, Russia and China, have already embarked upon-and largely completed-modernizations of their nuclear arsenals, while the U.S.
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In the relatively short section discussing national defense as traditionally defined, the interim guidance contains some puzzling thoughts regarding nuclear weapons. > Maintaining Nuclear Deterrence and Missile Defense ” This, too, comes across as virtue-signaling, as one would be hard-pressed to think of a time when America used its military as a “tool of first resort.” The third pillar in Trump’s National Security Strategy was “Preserve Peace Through Strength,” acknowledging how a strong military “ensures our diplomats are able to operate from a position of strength.” Biden’s guidance takes great pain to state the administration will make “responsible use of our military, while elevating diplomacy as our tool of first resort. Biden’s third priority, defending democratic values, was mentioned in the Trump strategy in a sub-section under “Advance American Influence.” But Biden affords democratic values higher prominence. The first two-security and prosperity-nest nearly exactly with the first two pillars of President Trump’s 2017 National Security Strategy and deserve top billing in any American national security document. The interim guidance identifies three national priorities: protect the security of the American people expand economic prosperity and opportunity and realize and defend the democratic values at the heart of the American way of life. Alliances are back.” Such political sloganeering seems jarringly out of place in a strategy document. And under the Biden-Harris Administration, America is back. Alliances and allies enjoy great importance in the Biden guidance, with its call to “reinvigorate and modernize our alliances and partnerships around the world.” Unfortunately, accompanying that sound guidance are some lingering traces of campaign rhetoric, e.g., “America cannot afford to be absent any longer on the world stage.
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strengths and prevent us from defending our interests and allies around the world.”Īreas of continuity with the Trump administration include identification of China, Russia, North Korea and Iran as potential adversaries. Biden’s interim guidance rightly calls out China for becoming more “assertive” and identifies Beijing and Moscow as having “invested heavily in efforts meant to check U.S. Second, and most encouraging: Seemingly gone is the naivety of the Obama era when the administration hoped for “deeper and more effective partnerships” with countries like China and Russia. With only a skeleton crew of confirmed political appointees the administration has, in just 45 days, produced guidance designed to shape the President’s first budget requests and policy decisions until more formal reviews can be completed. Still, it covers enough defense and foreign policy issues to give a good idea of where the new administration intends to head.įirst things first: the administration deserves kudos for coming out so early with guidance. President Joe Biden has released his interim National Security Strategic Guidance to “convey my vision for how America will engage with the world.” Unfortunately, much of the document’s 24 pages are dedicated to topics such as voting rights, clean energy, climate change, and racial justice that are only tangentially related to national security.