[guest post by Dana]
Although required to update the National Security Strategy every year, President Obama just sent his first update to Congress since 2010. The document seems permeated with a “let’s wait and see” restraint. What we are waiting for is unclear.
In his introduction, the president discusses the need for “strategic patience”:
America leads from a position of strength. But, this does not mean we can or should attempt to dictate the trajectory of all unfolding events around the world. As powerful as we are and will remain, our resources and influence are not infinite,” Obama writes in the introduction to the 35-page policy document. “The challenges we face require strategic patience and persistence.”
Some of the administration’s focal points for the next two years:
Russia: The strategy calls for continued diplomatic and economic pressure on Russia for its incursion into Ukraine, working “in lockstep with our European allies.” At the same time, the Obama administration will “keep the door open to greater collaboration with Russia in areas of common interests, should it choose a different path.”
Islamic State: The United States will “prioritize collective action” to address the threat from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and from related groups. The strategy document reiterates the position that Iraq and its Middle Eastern neighbors have to take a lead role in combating ISIL on the ground, although the United States will continue to deploy its “unique military capabilities.”
North Korea: The United States is “modernizing our alliances” with Japan, South Korea, Australia and the Philippines to counter North Korean provocation.
Western Africa: The Ebola epidemic shows the need to focus on health issues as part of a national security strategy, the report said.
China: “The United States welcomes the rise of a stable, peaceful, and prosperous China,” the policy document says. “While there will be competition, we reject the inevitability of confrontation.”
And regarding global security, the president asserts climate change and terrorism as twin threats of equal urgency:
In addition to acting decisively to defeat direct threats, we will focus on building the capacity of others to prevent the causes and consequences of conflict to include countering extreme and dangerous ideologies. Keeping nuclear materials from terrorists and preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons remains a high priority, as does mobilizing the international community to meet the urgent challenges posed by climate change and infectious disease.
And a word to the wise, TNR cautions that whoever becomes the GOP nominee should really heed the president’s words in the National Security Strategy update that climate change is “an urgent and growing threat to our national security”, because if the nominee doesn’t, Hillary! will wipe the floor with him:
Republicans remain unconvinced that climate change is caused by humans or a serious threat to the plan, so they’re not likely to accept that climate change is a national security issue, too. But in 2016, when the GOP nominee elaborates his or her (OK, his) plans for military preparedness, he’s going to find this issue hard to avoid. He’ll need to at least acknowledge the challenges that rising seas and temperatures pose to U.S. interests abroad, including military infrastructure and operations.
Otherwise he’ll be struck dumb when Hillary Clinton makes it a campaign issue: Last fall, the former secretary of state said climate change is “the most consequential, urgent, sweeping collection of challenges we face as a nation and a world.”
I’m not convinced that climate change will really matter too much as we witness our “strategic patience” allowing an increased presence and advancement of ISIS throughout the region and worse, beyond.
–Dana