President Trump unveils his National Security Strategy
On Monday at 2:00 p.m. ET, President Donald J. Trump spoke from the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington as he unveiled the highly anticipated National Security Strategy (NSS) for his administration. (Watch President’s full speech on video provided below.)
A comprehensive and unambiguous NSS is an important achievement for any White House. A legally mandated process, an NSS explains to American citizens, U.S. allies and partners, and federal agencies how the POTUS intends to put his national security vision into practice.
President Trump’s strategy is now a reality less than a year after he took office and builds Trump’s Presidential action to “restore respect for America abroad and renew confidence at home.”
Having spoken about his security concerns during the presidential race and during the administration’s transition phase, the strategy’s wording will sound familiar, reflecting key tenets of the President’s major foreign policy addresses in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Warsaw, Poland; and the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York.
Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, upon reading President Trump’s National Security Strategy said in a press statement:
“I commend the Administration on producing a responsible national security strategy that is based in America’s national interest and grounded in common sense. The strategy depends on the US military maintaining its edge over our adversaries; remaining agile and deployable, and retaining the ability to reassure our allies and deter our enemies. To achieve that goal, Congress has to stop asking our military to do more with less and pass adequate and reliable funding for our troops. This strategy is a good start, but only sufficient funding for our military can make it real.”
According to NSS: Strategic confidence enables the United States to protect its vital national interests. The Strategy identifies four vital national interests, or “four pillars” as:
I. Protect the homeland, the American people, and American way of life;
II. Promote American prosperity;
III. Preserve peace through strength;
IV. Advance American influence.
New York Times Columnist Slams News Media’s Trump Coverage
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, who originally endorsed Hillary Clinton, wrote in a surprise op-ed that President Trump administration’s success in foreign policy surprised him. In the war on the Islamic State not only in Syria and Iraq, but also in other Muslim nations. He wrote how he believes Donald Trump has won against the murderous terrorist scourge.
“If you had told me in late 2016 that almost a year into the Trump era the caliphate would be all-but-beaten without something far worse happening in the Middle East, I would have been surprised and gratified,” Douthat wrote in an column titled “A War Trump Won.
Douthat wrote that Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq – which he calls “the defining foreign policy calamity of Barack Obama’s second term” – were effectively routed by Trump without the need of a massive ground troop invasion and without getting into a war with Russia or Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Douthat wrote that it is a “press failure” to continue the narrative of anti-Trumpism while ignoring the story of a Trump success in smacking down ISIS.
It’s worse than that: for example Slate, a leftist news website, said Trump’s strategy would baffle U.S. allies and delight U.S. enemies. “The news analysis by Fred Kaplan shows another example of a man who is barely a professional journalist yet believes he knows more about the armed forces, counter-terrorism, law enforcement and intelligence subjects than the professionals who’ve spent their lives protecting the American people,” said former U.S. Marine and civilian police officer Nolan Fitzpatrick, who holds a doctorate in criminal justice administration.
