CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Trump’s National Security Team: Dangerous and Dysfunctional

Photograph Source: Priscilla Corrales/Presidencia de la República de Costa Rica – Public Domain

In the wake of 9/11, there has been a dangerous militarization of our national security and foreign policies.  The military has been used to secure foreign policy goals, and the intelligence community has been militarized and politicized.  Spending on defense has been excessive and even reckless.  The presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden contributed to these problems with the misuse of military power after the 9/11 attacks.  But it has been the authoritarian style of the Trump presidency that has made U.S. national security policy dangerous and dysfunctional.  In the process, our democracy at home and our credibility and influence abroad have been weakened.

The two most important institutions for implementing national security decisions—the Department of State and the National Security Council—have essentially vanished.  The fact that both of these institutions are in the hands of former senator Marco Rubio would be risible if it were not so dangerous.  Rubio spends little time at the State Department, and there is no record of meetings of the NSC to discuss such key issues as the Russia-Ukraine War or the possibility of a renewed Iran nuclear deal.  Both of these serious issues are in the hands of two billionaire real estate brokers, Steve........

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