's national security strategy. Currently digging through it now, I'll live tweet it because why not.
Intro's pretty standard. Promises referenced, talks about how rogue nations developing nuclear and ballistic missile technology, unchecked immigration as a vehicle for drug cartels, etc threaten our security, even references NATO members not paying up while our military crumbled.
Definitely sounding like a mission statement for how the Trump administration is going to protect the US by the end of the intro. I'm rather intrigued.
China and Russia immediately identified as political, economic, military rivals. Kind of a 'no shit sherlock' point, but given Muh Russia is somehow still alive and well as a crackpot liberal conspiracy, well, glad its restated in plain writing.
Specifically goes about calling out their repression of information. That's... interesting. "They are determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries, and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence"
Calls out North Korea and Iran too, for obvious reasons, including Iran propagating terrorist organizations globally.
So, the four pillars of the 'America First' national security strategy. 1) protect the American people, the homeland, and the American way of life.
2) promote American prosperity
3) preserve peace through strength
Fun note on #3, he specifically includes SPACE AND CYBERSPACE. Rods from Gods anyone? Also, hopefully the US will work to not be a complete moron in cybersecurity. Just saying.
4) advance American influence, ie, NO, we're not going pure isolationist. We're going to lead by example, ask our allies to share the burden, and help promote PRIVATE SECTOR growth in future trade and security partners.
Give a man some money, feed his family for a day. Help a man build a factory, feed his town for life.
Alright, pillar one, Trump protecc, Trump attacc. Starts off talking about the usual securing the borders, stopping WMDs, and talks about protecting intellectual property and private data.
Securing borders and territory; Here's a fun list. Enhanced missile defenses, detect and disrupt weapons of mass destruction, enhanced counterproliferation measures, and targeting WMD terrorists.
Countering biothreats: detect and contain biothreats at their source, support biomedical innovation, improve emergency response, read World War Z. No, don't watch that stupid movie, the movie was bullshit.
Strengthen border control and immigration policy: enhance border security, XXXTREME VETTING, actually enforce the immigration laws on the books, bolster transportation security (this includes transportation infrastructure. 2 shitshows in 2 days is not a good look.)
Next segment: Pursuing threats to their source. YEAH BOI. "The United States also works with allies and partners to deter and disrupt other foreign terrorist groups that threaten the homeland—including Iranian-backed groups such as Lebanese Hizballah" @ThomasWictor calls it again
Pretty standard run of the priority actions: disrupt plots (like disrupting the plot against Russia), taking direct action (specifically "regardless of where they are") eliminating terrorist safe havens (targeting online havens especially) severing sources of strength ($$$)
Sharing responsibility with our allies, aaaand combating radicalization in communities, specifically here at home. Home grown terrorists are the most dangerous and difficult to detect after all.
Next up: Dismantling transnational criminal organizations *cough* MS13 *cough*
Priority actions: improving strategic planning and intelligence, ie getting our intel and law enforcement agencies to work together better. Defend communities, including public health efforts to stem the tide of drug abuse, improving rehabilitation efforts, lots of good stuff
"Increase access to evidenced-based treatment for addiction"
"Defend in depth"
"Counter cyber criminals" aka online marketplaces. "We will use sophisticated investigative tools to disrupt the ability of criminals to use online marketplaces, CRYPTOCURRENCIES, and other tools for illicit activities." Sell your bitcoins NOW.
I own no bitcoins, I have never owned bitcoins, I consider it a ponzi scheme of the highest calibre, but I'm telling you, DITCH THAT IMMEDIATELY. Hopefully you rake in a profit.
And next up on the agenda, protecting America in the cybersecurity age!
"IDENTIFY AND PRIORITIZE RISK: To improve the security and resilience of our critical infrastructure, we will assess risk across six key areas: national security, energy and power, banking and finance, health and safety, communications, and transportation"
You know, maybe prioritize making sure credit rating agencies don't fail utterly at protecting millions of customers' information? Just saying. Bought a car last year so I know my info was stolen.
BUILD DEFENSIBLE GOVERNMENT NETWORKS: IE not in our secretary of state's bathroom.
Deter and disrupt malicious cyber actors: Maybe actually punch back at foreign governments launching cyber-attacks? Just saying.
Improve information sharing and sensing so we can figure out who actually launched cyber attacks, instead of just randomly blaming North Korea when a studio makes a movie making fun of them and gets hacked, or when people blame Russians for hacking the DNC.
DEPLOY LAYERED DEFENSES oh god yes. Working with the private sector to fight hacks every step of the way rather than once they reach their target. Yes please.
Next up on the action items, promoting American resilience. YES.
I just want to focus on one here, "BUILD A CULTURE OF PREPAREDNESS"
I'm not an IT guy, I do everything I can to make sure coworkers know that just because I'm in my late 20's and wear glasses does not make me some IT guru. But there's basic survival skills that people should know about IT that are as simple as look both ways before crossin
For example, if you get a pop up telling you to call IT and it gives you a number, DO NOT CALL THAT NUMBER. It is a scam line that is going to get you to install some virus so they hold your computer hostage.
My company just about lost its server and literally millions of dollars worth of information because some jackass sales guy got that kind of pop up, I didn't ask how, and called the number on the line, and started installing something.
I overhear part of the conversation, realize that he was NOT on the phone with our actual IT group, and proceed to dive OVER his desk to unplug his computer before the program could finish installing.
Seriously. Whatever the Trump administration puts out about cyber security awareness, READ IT. LEARN IT. LOVE IT.
Fuck, I'll do their job for them. 1) DO NOT TRUST POP UPS. 2) Official emails from companies do not have misspellings. Reading comprehension. Love it. 3) No one asks for your password or username over email. 4) Do not follow the link on an email, go to the website manually.
There, I just saved some of you from costly freaking mistakes. Boom.
Alright, next big section, American prosperity. The first segment we're already in the midst of: reducing regulatory burden (22 checks on that for a 22:1 regulatory kill ratio), tax reform (don't fuck us on this Senate) improving infrasturcture, debt reduction (through shrinkage)
(government shrinkage I mean) and supporting education and apprenticeship programs. Same basic stuff we heard on the campaign trail.
"Promote Free, Fair, and Reciprocal Economic Relationships" YES PLEASE. Screw this multilateral crap, lets do more bilateral deals.
"Lead in Research, Technology, Invention, and Innovation" mostly this section is all about drawing in private investment and innovation. The usual good stuff.
Pausing for the moment, will pick it up again in a bit.
Alright, back. Page 31 if anyone else is reading along. Promote and Protect the U.S. National Security Innovation Base. Wonderful little section here, talks about more protection of intellectual property which is a HUGE FREAKING ISSUE
Not movies and such, I'm talking software, actual physical products, etc. US businesses have been getting ripped off for years and for years the government wasn't really doing much to protect them. No, big multilateral trade deals don't cut it, not when they'll be cheated.
Doesn't matter what laws or trade deals are on the books, if the companies in one country think they can get away with ripping off the companies in another country they will. Did you know Chinese companies keep 3 separate sets of accounting books?
One for investors and business partners (ie US companies that are tricked into thinking a Chinese company can do more than it actually can), one for government auditors (because corruption), and one for the CEO itself (because someone has to know where all the money's hidden).
Moving on, tightening visa procedures! Yes please. Also, protecting data and underlying infrastructure, because yeah, we really, REALLY need that. Fucking equifax.
Next action item, EMBRACING ENERGY DOMINANCE
"Climate policies will continue to shape the global energy system. U.S. leadership is indispensable to countering an anti-growth energy agenda that is detrimental to U.S. economic and energy security interests."
In other words: Fuck you Paris Climate Accords.
This plan so far definitely takes a page out of the Saudi book, in that its talking about things that should and need to be done, when in reality a lot of it is ALREADY HAPPENING.
No mention of uranium, but this is pretty clearly about fossil fuels. I remain disappointed that an off-the-cuff shot about Uranium One isn't fired off, but hey, can't have too much fun, serious business and all that.
PILLAR 3: PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.
"For decades, U.S. policy was rooted in the belief that support for China’s rise and for its integration into the post-war international order would liberalize China. Contrary to our hopes, China expanded its power at the expense of the sovereignty of others."
HOLY FUCKING SHIT
HOLY FUCKING SHIT
"Part of China’s military modernization and economic expansion is due to its access to the U.S. innovation economy, including America’s world-class universities." SHOTS FIRED SHOTS FIRED
He's calling out freaking RUSSIA too, holy shit.
"The combination of Russian ambition and growing military capabilities creates an unstable frontier in Eurasia, where the risk of conflict due to Russian miscalculation is growing." This is the greatest read of my life, holy shit, my sides. SUCK IT LIBBOTS.
Alright, the document gets into restoring American competitiveness now. "Instead of building military capacity, as threats to our national security increased, the United States dramatically cut the size of our military to the lowest levels since 1940." Well that's news to me.
"In addition, adversaries and competitors became adept at operating below the threshold of open military conflict and at the edges of international law" Certainly not pulling any punches here.
"The United States must retain overmatch—the combination of capabilities in sufficient scale to prevent enemy success and to ensure that America’s sons and daughters will never be in a fair fight." Mattis wrote this line. I guarantee it.
"The United States will pursue new approaches to acquisition to make better deals on behalf of the American people that avoid cost overruns, eliminate bloated bureaucracies, and stop unnecessary delays so that we can put the right equipment into the hands of our forces." GOOD
Next, its more infrastructure talk, especially regarding our manufacturing base and how some critical components we have to get from foreign sources. The plan is to put a stop to that, which in turn brings more manufacturing to the US. GOOD.
Now, nuclear talk "Some parts of America’s strategic nuclear Triad of bombers, sea-based missiles, and land-based missiles are over 30 years old, and much of our nuclear infrastructure dates to the World War II era."
Ok, something not so terrifying, SPAAAAAAACE
"Many countries are purchasing satellites to support their own strategic military activities. Others believe that the ability to attack space assets others an asymmetric advantage and as a result, are pursuing a range of anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons."
"Any harmful interference with or an attack upon critical components of our space architecture that directly affects this vital U.S. interest will be met with a deliberate response at a time, place, manner, and domain of our choosing."
Translation: Bitches better not fuck with our Dish Network. Its college basketball season.
Next up, CYYYYYYBER WARFAAAAAARE. Sadly, there are no Tron references.
Its a smaller section, with 3 key points. 1) Figure out who the hell is hitting us, 2) make sure the government isn't so laughably easy to hit, and 3) Poke at Congress until they say "Fine! Do whatever the hell you want on the internet, we don't care!"
Next, intelligence. Interesting but small section here, specifically the action items. First, understanding the motivations of our adversaries, which would be helpful as that's definitely a weak point. Who knows why Putin does what he does?
Personally, I believe in truth he actually IS a bear, and as a result our pitiful human brains cannot comprehend his plans.
Next up, DIPLOMACY AND STATECRAFT
Which I'm going to skip because the State Department is still full of Obama holdovers, and Tillerson is taking care of business worldwide. He's got this.
The fourth and final pillar, ADVANCE 'MURICAN INFLUENCE
"We are not going to impose our values on others. Our alliances, partnerships, and coalitions are built on free will and shared interests. When the United States partners with other states we develop policies that enable us to achieve our goals while our partners achieve theirs"
Well... THATS a departure from the norm.
"Today, the United States must compete for positive relationships around the world. China and Russia target their investments in the developing world to expand influence and gain competitive advantages against the United States." Like in Africa.
Let me veer off for a moment to mention something else. There exist a LOT of organizations international in scope that compete in the 'economic influence' sphere, and a lot of them, well, they don't work.
See: The international monetary fund, a European-controlled shit show that acts as a lender of last resort for countries who exchange a short term economic collapse for a long term malaise.
It is essentially a bunch of near-socialists who try to push free market reforms on countries in exchange for bailouts while utterly failing to grasp why or how free market reforms work, leading to an elongated disaster staved off only by MORE bailouts.
For example, the Greek crisis. Greece got dicked over by the EU and its own government because it took advantage of a strong euro to build up a massive public sector infrastructure, while its private industry was shipped off to nations with a better industrial base
When the economic collapse happened and it was realized that Greece couldn't afford to pay back the loans taken from German banks, the EU (effectively run by Germany) and the IMF gave them bailouts that went straight to Germany's banks.
In exchange, Greece was supposed to set fire to its budget and sell off a crap ton of state property; islands, dockyards, anything it owned that could be privatized would be.
The hope? That upon seeing this privatization, investors would FLOCK back to Greece, and private investment would make up for the tens of thousands of public sector jobs lost.
This is the 'confidence fairy'. The confidence fairy being the economic fairy that looks like an old college professor who sprinkles goodwill and risk-taking behaviors in investors' heads so that they'll invest in a country that almost went bankrupt and is on life support.
Needless to say, this private investment didn't materialize, because why would people invest in a nearly failed state on the verge of bankruptcy when it could invest in Germany whose industrial base was still strong and was in the same economic union as Greece.
Want the United States to gain prominence and stature? Help nations in a way that makes the IMF pointless. From the priority actions in the document (page 49) mobilize their natural resources and invest in the extraction of them, capitalize new technologies to help them modernize
And incentivize reforms, don't be like the IMF and make them a precondition for salvation.
For failed states? Prioritize the ones that represent a threat to US interests, ie Afghanistan, work with the reform-minded parts of their political structures, and help them on all levels, economic, military, and political stability.
Sounds a bit much like nation-building, but if we're dealing with private investment rather than the state department trying to scrape together a government from the ground-up for a country, well, hopefully that works a bit better.
Next section is talking about doing better in multilateral forums. This is key. As much as they suck, its the playground everyone else prefers to play in. We have to go in there and actually flex muscles, not play nice and concede far too much just to get a specific outcome.
Ok, NOW for the fun part, applying these pillars in a regional context!
"Although the United States seeks to continue to cooperate with China, China is using economic inducements and penalties, influence operations, and implied military threats to persuade other states to heed its political and security agenda." Lotta shit-talking China here. Love it
"States throughout the region are calling for sustained U.S. leadership in a collective response that upholds a regional order respectful of sovereignty and independence." Hey, maybe instead of getting into a diplomatic pissing contest with Duterte, we should WORK WITH HIM.
"In Northeast Asia, the North Korean regime is rapidly accelerating its cyber, nuclear, and ballistic missile programs." Not since their mountain collapsed and killed their entire nuclear scientist force LMAO
"We will reinforce our commitment to freedom of the seas and the peaceful resolution of territorial and maritime disputes in accordance with international law." Screw your fake concrete islands, CHINA.
"We will pursue bilateral trade agreements on a fair and reciprocal basis. We
will seek equal and reliable access for American exports. We will work with partners to build a network of states dedicated to free markets and protected from forces that would subvert their sovereign"
will seek equal and reliable access for American exports. We will work with partners to build a network of states dedicated to free markets and protected from forces that would subvert their sovereign"
Because screw the TPP. We'll do better with bilateral trade agreements. See, this is the BIGGEST turnaround in foreign policy, we're not doing big sprawling multilateral trade deals, its all bilateral, one on one.
In a big multilateral deal, we're cut to pieces a thousand times over as many other countries get small concession after small concession, adding up to an unfavorable trade position. One on one, we can actually flex our muscles and get good deals.
" With its invasions of Georgia and Ukraine, Russia demonstrated its willingness to violate the sovereignty of states in the region. Russia continues to intimidate
its neighbors with threatening behavior, such as nuclear posturing and the deployment of offensive capabilities."
its neighbors with threatening behavior, such as nuclear posturing and the deployment of offensive capabilities."
Yes. This. We have Russia actively invading Georgia and Ukraine, and Obama sat there and did jack squat. What, sent a bit of aid, applied sanctions? Didn't stop Russia. Hell, they then went straight to Syria.
My big problem with 'Muh Russia' has always been that Trump hasn't actually done anything to Russia's benefit. American oil and coal flooding the market is NOT in Russia's interest, who need the fossil fuel supply constrained and prices high.
Opposition in Syria and firing missiles into the planes of Syria that Russia paid for is not in Putin's interest either
And now, Russia's getting called out left and right in this national security plan. So, tell me, libbots, WHAT HAS PUTIN GAINED IF HE WAS THE ONE WHO GOT TRUMP ELECTED
Y'all don't have shit, Seth Abramson doesn't have shit, CNN doesn't have shit, NYT doesn't have shit, WaPo doesn't have SHIT.
I'm calling it here. Left off on page 58, where it covers the general plan for the Middle East, Africa, south-central Asia (Pakistan and India primarily), and then goes into the conclusion. Overall, a good read, I highly recommend a browse.
