The US National Security Strategy (NSS) has just been released by the White House, showing the administration’s priorities for the country’s security. The NSS—a report mandated by Section 603 of the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986—communicates the executive branch’s national security vision to the legislative branch. It’s prepared periodically—once during each administration—to convey the administration’s strategic vision.

In the early days of the Trump administration, I wrote of a pivot—specifically in Treasury Department priorities—from Russia to Iran, terrorism, and drug cartels. Every administration has its own priorities, and the second Trump administration is no different.

This current NSS, however, is instructive in several ways.

Let’s take a look.

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Language

The NSS begins with obsequious braggadocio written on behalf of the President, making the same spurious claims that he and his administration have been advancing in the quest for a Nobel Peace Prize.

The world was a catastrophe before I came back to the White House!

Deadly failures… disaster… weakness…

This is the same sycophantic pandering we hear at cabinet meetings.

And the same claims of “peace” we hear daily about how President Trump has ended eight wars: Democratic Republic of the Congo/Rwanda, Israel/HAMAS, Armenia/Azerbaijan, Iran/Israel, India/Pakistan, Egypt/Ethiopia, Kosovo/Serbia, and Cambodia/Thailand.

I will give credit where credit is due and say he did a good job brokering a ceasefire between Israel and HAMAS—although the ceasefire is riddled with violations—and former Soviet republics, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The United States helped carry out strikes against Iran when Israel began bombing targets in June. Trump now claims credit for the ceasefire. I’ll give him some credit for helping Israel weaken the Islamic Republic.

Trump also claims he mediated talks between India and Pakistan after hostilities broke out in May following an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan genuflected in front of Trump, recommending him for the Nobel Peace Prize. India refused to accept mediation by a third party, and India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that Prime Minister Modi “strongly” told Trump this in a phone call.

Although the DRC and Rwanda in June signed a ceasefire agreement after hostilities broke out between the two countries this year, and a peace treaty was signed just the other day, the fighting continues, and civilians keep dying.

Thailand and Cambodia in early August reached an agreement aimed at reducing tensions along their shared border. Trump again claimed credit because he posted a threat on social media.

There was no war to end between Egypt and Ethiopia. There are continued tensions over a dam in the Nile, but no agreement has been reached and no hostilities existed for the President to end.

And then, there’s Kosovo and Serbia, who have been fighting on and off since the 1990s. I was deployed there for a year. I spent a lot of time in bilateral meetings with the Serbian Armed Forces. While tensions have a tendency to flare up in the region, Trump’s claims of stopping a “big” war now, or during his first term are overblown, preening swill.

I’ll be fair and say that a lot of NSS documents begin with a message from the President, but most focus on America’s greatness, America’s leadership, and America’s alliances and partnerships. This one focuses on the President.

The current NSS, after the President’s message, begins with insults about previous NSS documents.

The focus is on the wants and how to get what we want, and once again ingratiatingly kowtows to the White House. "

“President Trump’s Necessary, Welcome Correction”

Once again, we see the old boogeyman “the elites” trotted out and focuses for several pages on America’s “wants.”

Spiritual and cultural health… ongoing damage that foreign actors inflict on the American economy… civilizational self-confidence and Western identity… cultural subversion… What Are America’s Available Means to Get What We Want?

Was this document written by elementary school students?

I imagine a greasy kid pounding his fists on the desk while screaming, “I WANT!”

The weird atavistic language is creepy, especially as it slams our European allies, while glossing over massive aggression and hybrid attacks in which Russia has been engaged for more than a decade and highlighting Russia’s messaging about the demise of European civilization. Although in the first Trump administration, the NSS acknowledged that Russia is a primary adversary, in the current strategy, there’s not a whisper about Russia’s aggression and continued attacks on our allies.

I agree with the Council of Foreign Relations’ Rebecca Lissner when she writes that the second Trump strategy is more polemic than policy. It reads like the same red meat for his followers to cheer for, rather than a mature, substantive document.

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But what about the actual strategy?

The document actually appears to blame Europe for Russia’s aggression and for the failure of the Trump administration to achieve peace in “24 hours,” as promised!

The Trump Administration finds itself at odds with European officials who hold unrealistic expectations for the war perched in unstable minority governments, many of which trample on basic principles of democracy to suppress opposition. A large European majority wants peace, yet that desire is not translated into policy, in large measure because of those governments’ subversion of democratic processes. This is strategically important to the United States precisely because European states cannot reform themselves if they are trapped in political crisis.

Note the slam against Europe for limiting free speech, while pointedly ignoring that Russia has blocked access to social media platforms, to secure messaging, and to VPNs.

While the first document also mentioned North Korea and Iran as threats, Iran is mentioned three times in the entire document—once in the context of the claim that Trump somehow ended the war between Israel and Iran, and twice to brag about Operation Midnight Hammer, which “significantly degraded Iran’s nuclear program” and about the effectiveness of which there has been disagreement in the intelligence community (until Jeffrey Kruse and other senior officials were fired from DIA after the agency assessed that the operation only set Iran’s nuclear program back a few months).

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Oh, dear—the hypocrisy!

I won’t fisk the 33-page NSS paragraph by paragraph. I have neither the patience nor the time. But I will highlight some of the specious claims and hypocritical assertions.

We want to protect this country, its people, its territory, its economy, and its way of life from military attack and hostile foreign influence, whether espionage, predatory trade practices, drug and human trafficking, destructive propaganda and influence operations, cultural subversion, or any other threat to our nation.

If the current administration is so worried about propaganda and influence operations, why is there no mention of Russia’s efforts in this sphere?

If Trump is concerned about hostile foreign influence, why is there no mention of Russia’s active measures?

Why is there no mention of “Operation Doppelganger” or the agents of Russian disinformation in the United States?

If the White House is so concerned about drug trafficking, why pardon convicted drug lord and former Honduras president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was involved in flooding the United States with hundreds of tons of kilos of cocaine?

I agree it’s high time we turned our attention to human trafficking, drugs, and influence operations. But then why grant clemency to Ross Ulbricht, who was convicted of aiding and abetting distribution of drugs over internet and other crimes?

President of Peace?

As I mentioned above, the claim of alleged cessation of eight wars is overblown at best, and he has yet to live up to his promise of stopping Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

Instead, the Trump administration stopped the policy of punishing Russia with sanctions, despite continued threats and moving of the red lines when Russian president Putin shrugged and continued his savage violence. Worse yet, the allegedly “significant” sanctions imposed on Russian energy providers Lukoil and Rosneft have been watered down by general licenses, while the red carpet was rolled out for sanctioned war criminal Putin in Alaska—a “summit” which did not result in a ceasefire, let alone a peace.

The “President of Peace” has also decided that it was perfectly OK to expand military targets to inside Venezuela, threatened boots on the ground in Nigeria, and deployed America’s military against his own citizens in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the use of federal troops in the role of a police force. Cities where Trump has deployed troops include Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Memphis, among others.

But Americans are tired of endless wars, right?

The NOT National Security

Yes, we all want a more peaceful, prosperous, cohesive America. But is DEI really a national security issue? How about “traditional” family values? Are culture and family national security issues?

I would argue that bringing these cultural issues into the domain of national security expands the federal government’s role into the personal lives of Americans—something that conservatives have fought to prevent…

…until their guy came to power.

We also want an America free of corruption, and this is where the NSS is sorely lacking. There’s not a single mention of the issue in the document, and the Trump administration’s decision not to enforce the beneficial ownership requirement of the Corporate Transparency Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as well as pardons for slimy corruptocrats like former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, former Tennessee state senator Brian Kelsey, and convicted fraudsters Todd and Julie Chrisley should tell you everything you need to know about Trump’s views on corruption.

And make no mistake, corruption and kleptocracy absolutely ARE national security concerns! As I wrote previously:

Corruption enables violence.

Corruption enables authoritarianism.

When corruption is unlimited, the kleptocratic system emerges, stealing resources, stifling dissent, and feeding on its neighbors when domestic resources are exhausted.

[…]

A clear connection exists between violence and corruption. Corruption enables authoritarianism and aggression, not just against the citizens of the countries judged to be most corrupt, but also against neighboring nations. Protests are stifled via government force, free speech is suppressed, and those who speak out are arrested, or worse. Those who publicly oppose government policies lose their livelihoods and sometimes their lives.

The NSS represents a US strategic pivot. It stands traditional views of democracy and alliances on their ear, and puts our partners on notice: the trust and reliance the United States and our allies have built are no longer a guarantee. It focuses on reestablishing European stability with Russia, while kicking Europe for refusing to give in to Russian aggression.

Start relying on one another, EU, and start booting out obvious assets of your adversaries. Your very survival depends on it.