U.S. National Security: The Bush Team
ARTICLE ALERT
Although the near-term proficiency of the U.S. military is "unrivaled," the long-term readiness of the national security establishment to face tomorrow's threats "remains in question," the author says. He outlines a series of managerial changes that he believes are necessary "to ensure that the U.S. military keeps its advantage...in the face of the globalization, commercialization, and information revolutions that are transforming the world."
Cohen, Eliot A. DEFENSE AND THE NEW PRESIDENT: REMAKING THE MILITARY (Current, no. 427, November 2000, pp. 3-9)
The U.S. military -- despite its inertia toward change -- is in need of a drastic overhaul, the author says. The current problems will not have severe repercussions in the short term, but he warns that the long-term consequences could be deadly. The military, he says, needs to focus on four topics: defense against weapons of mass destruction, conventional dominance, short-term contingencies, and peace maintenance. He further advocates a strong role for civilians in changing the military to adequately reflect today's world.
Cohen, William S. PRINCIPLES FOR A NATIONAL SECURITY CONSENSUS (The Washington Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 2, Spring 2001, pp. 75-81)
Former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen argues that today's policy-makers can arrive at a bipartisan U.S. foreign policy as long as they reaffirm that national security should never be partisan. To support that principle, he says the executive and legislative branches must work as partners, and at the same time there must be "robust and informed debate on matters of national security." His commentary is joined by the work of seven other political leaders and policy experts, including Senators John Kerry and Charles Hagel, Norman Ornstein, Alton Frye, former Congressmen Newt Gingrich and Lee Hamilton, and former deputy defense secretary John Hamre, in a series of articles on bipartisan foreign policy-making.
Graham, Thomas W. NATIONAL SECURITY: OPPORTUNITIES AND DANGERS FOR THE NEW ADMINISTRATION (Public Perspectives, vol. 12, no. 1, January/February 2001, pp. 22-33)
The American public is not as ambivalent about nor ignorant of foreign policy issues as many would believe, Graham says. Foreign policy, he notes, is something that Americans take seriously. According to polls, he says, Americans' foreign policy concerns have shifted and now reflect four main issues: biological and chemical weapons, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, and drugs. Graham says the new administration would be well served to regularly poll Americans on their attitudes as this would be useful in making foreign policy decisions and securing American support.
Rice, Condoleezza. RICE TALK (The International Economy, vol. 14, no. 5, September/October 2000, pp. 36-39)
In an interview shortly before she became President Bush's National Security Adviser, Rice discusses trade with Mexico, the collapse of the Soviet Union, immigration policy, defense issues, and international economics. Economic issues, she says, are critical because they have the potential "to reshape the entire international political dynamic by creating a more prosperous...democratic environment." Because America's power and influence are clear, she says there is no need to talk about the U.S. as the "indispensable nation" as former Secretary of State Albright did.
Traub, James. W.'S WORLD (New York Times Magazine, January 14, 2001, pp. 28-34)
The foreign affairs outlook of the new Bush administration is strikingly different from that of the administration of the first President Bush, the author says. Noticeably absent from the new administration's pronouncements, he says, are references to humanitarian intervention, peacekeeping and nation-building; instead, the incoming Bush administration advocates "realism", extols free markets and trade, and is reluctant to commit U.S. military forces to ground operations overseas.
----------
The annotations above are part of a more comprehensive Article Alert offered on the International Home Page of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State: "http://usinfo.state.gov/admin/001/wwwhapub.html.