FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 23, 2020
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org
WASHINGTON, DC—Media reports anticipate President-elect Biden will select Antony Blinken as Secretary of State and Jake Sullivan as national security adviser. Defense Priorities Policy Director Benjamin H. Friedman issued the following statement in response:
“President-elect Biden’s top national security advisors will be experienced public servants with qualifications beyond reproach. While professionalism is a welcome return, a lack of it is not the primary problem with U.S. foreign policy.
“Advocates of restraint seek a fundamental break with past orthodoxies in Washington. How the United States has engaged with the world for the past several decades—liberal hegemony—has failed. A series of needless wars and costly commitments burden U.S. foreign policy with risks out of proportion to the security that geography, wealth, and military might provide.
“Talk about restoring U.S. leadership is fine, but policy should reflect narrow U.S. interests, respect the limits international politics impose, and end overstretch.
“A shift to greater restraint begins with ending the wars, as President-elect Biden promised during the campaign, including sticking to the plan to fully withdraw from Afghanistan by May 2021. It means not only complying with the Iran deal, but also loosening U.S.-Saudi ties and taking advantage of reduced enmity with Iran to get U.S. combat forces out of the Middle East. It means engaging in productive diplomacy with Russia to extend the New START treaty and reduce tension in Eastern Europe. It means limiting and focusing competition with China to avoid a needlessly costly and risky new cold war. These are sensible moves no matter who is in charge.”
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