National Security Disasters and a Plan for Renewal

Given my background and interests, a couple of stories today naturally grabbed my attention.  The first is a very detailed and descriptive article in Politico titled "The Secret Backstory of How Obama Let Hezbollah off the Hook".  You can read it here.  Be forewarned that it is a long, detailed and I might add maddening and depressing read.  A better idea may be to read a summary of this sordid story over at National Review by David French, who is one of the best commentators on national security issues on the scene today.  It is titled, "How Obama Appeased Iran by Turning a Blind Eye to Hezbollah’s Crimes".  You can read it here.

Bottom line on this revelation is that the DEA got wind of Hezbollah getting into the drug business in a big way.  By some estimates they were making over a billion dollars a year by pushing drugs into America.  This was obviously going to fund it's terrorist activities.  It was a very complicated scheme but the DEA was having some success.  When they wanted to go after some of the big guys in the organization they were turned down by the White House and the Justice Dept because there was a worry that it might undermine the Iran deal.  That's the gist, but there's a lot more detail if you're interested.  

To me it's just another example of the disaster that the Obama administration was in developing and executing a National Security Strategy.  Maybe it's just because this stuff is my background and I have an interest in it, but I really think that the damage that Obama did to this country in the security area is profound.  Starting with the Cairo speech and continuing with the cut and run from Iraq, the decimation of the military through the sequester, the shameful appeasement of monsters around the world, the pull back from so many of our commitments, the unfortunate and ill-conceived "leading from behind" strategy, the disasterous adventure in Libya, the appointment of two hyper-partisan politicians as Secretaries of State, and on and on and on his tenure as Commander in Chief on the world stage was a disgrace and a disaster.  

Which brings me to today's release of President Trump's National Security Strategy.  Creating this document is no small task.  Obviously we live in an incredibly complicated, dangerous, ambiguous and interconnected world that is not given to simple strategies and actions.  But this new document gives me some hope.  I've just given it a quick read but upon first blush I really like what I see.  You can read it here.   It is clear, unambiguous, and logically written.  After a summary stating clearly that putting America first is priority one, the document lays out four pillars along with priority actions that are definitive steps we will focus on in the coming years as we engage around the world.  The pillars are:

1. Protect the American people, the homeland, and the American way of life
2. Promote American prosperity
3. Preserve peace through strength
4. Advance American Influence

At the end of the document is a section on the Strategy in a regional context.  It breaks down the regions of the world and provides priorities and directions that we will use in engaging with various actors.  The other thing this document does is that it doesn't mince words.  It clearly calls out Islamic Jihadists.  It clearly talks about energy as a national security issue.  It clearly talks about protecting the homeland and our borders.  It clearly has a component of economic prosperity as a national security issue.  It clearly states that we can't be everything to everyone in the world and we will limit our engagement.  It clearly talks about the need to bolster our military.  There are many, many things to like in this document.  I'm sure in the coming days it will be picked apart and the intelligentsia will find things that are deficient.  But like I said, on first read it's pretty good.

One of the laments I always had about Obama's ineptitude when it came to national security was his lack of any coherent strategy.  I looked up his documents in the Archives and found that he produced two National Security Strategy documents in 8 years in office.  One in 2010 and one in 2015.  I read both of them and they are as opposite from Trump's as they could be.  The most relevant one from 2015 reads like a novel of aspirations.  Not much specificity.  Lots on esoteric things like climate change, promoting young leaders, ending poverty, and advancing equality.  After living the disaster that was the Obama years and now reading this wishy-washy, inept 2015 document, the failures start to make sense.  It will take time, treasure and luck to reverse all of the setbacks that were self-inflicted.  But this new NSS is a good start.