Reference News Network July 14 report: The U.S. "Atlantic" monthly website published an article titled "Who is Controlling U.S. Defense Policy?" on July 7, authored by Tom Nichols, a retired professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College. The full text is as follows:

Who is actually controlling America's foreign and defense policies?

It's not the president, at least not on most issues. Trump's interest in foreign policy is as superficial and short-lived as his interest in so many other topics. He tends to walk away from problems he can't win, leaving them for others to handle.

It's also not Marco Rubio—you may recall that he was nominally the Secretary of State, but he seems to have little real power in the White House. Nor is it Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who seems unable to stop talking about "kill power" and transgender people, and who can't give a real briefing except when fawning before Trump. Nor is it the National Security Advisor, because the National Security Advisor is also Rubio.

The one who manipulates American defense policy is Deputy Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby, and perhaps a few others in the Washington metropolitan area. Their influence is not always obvious. For example, the order to suspend arms deliveries to Ukraine came from Hegseth, but according to reports, the initial idea originated with Colby. NBC News reported that Colby supported this move because he "has long advocated gradually reducing U.S. commitments to Ukraine, shifting weapons and resources to the Pacific to counter China."

In this administration, the main decision-makers are either incompetent or kept out of most policy-making processes; therefore, lower-level departments are making decisions without effective guidance from above. During Trump's first term, this situation turned out to be a blessing, as those lower-level staff were career officials who at least knew how to keep things running. But during Trump's second term, many of these career officials were either suppressed or completely replaced by Trump loyalists and inexperienced appointees. Ironicaly, allowing lower-level departments to fill the policy vacuum actually gives power to those obscure appointees, who are precisely the ones that the "Make America Great Again" movement claims to hate most in other governments.

In Trump's current administration, irrational tariffs and strict immigration enforcement are two core policies. Both have an impact on foreign policy, but Trump and his team mainly treat them as domestic political issues. All other matters only appear on the periphery of the White House's vision: Pakistan and India, nuclear weapons, the Middle East, the war in Ukraine. All these matters only briefly attract Trump's attention, and after quickly assessing their importance to himself, they are promptly thrown out of the Oval Office.

Even the Iran airstrikes have apparently lost their luster for the president. This might be because the political advantages of the bombing never materialized: the American public disapproves of Trump's actions, so the president is now looking for something else that can catch the spotlight.

Now, this little thing seems to be in Gaza. Last weekend, Trump claimed he "was likely" to reach an agreement with Hamas within the next week, under which Hamas would release more hostages. This is the foreign policy of the Trump era: announcing an agreement, postponing the deadline by another couple of weeks, and then hoping the agreement will be fulfilled. If it isn't fulfilled, shift the focus and claim success, regardless of actual results.

No one in the Trump administration has the motivation to change this situation, because major changes amount to admitting failure. Replacing the people who know what they're doing in the National Security Council means admitting that these people were needed all along. If Hegseth or other senior officials resign, it means admitting that Trump's appointment of them was a big mistake. Constraining those who make policies on their own and weakening the power of lower-level policymakers is acknowledging that senior leaders have lost control over the department.

This administration has never formulated any coherent foreign policy, nor has anyone tried to do so. There's only Trump's hollow "America First" slogan. No one needs to think too much about who will defend America or conduct diplomacy; the officials appointed by Trump obviously got their positions because they are good at creating headlines and inciting arguments, not because they are capable.

Yet, in contrast, the leaders of the world's most powerful countries are mature and professional. Some of them are enemies of the United States and extremely dangerous. Deputy Secretary of Defense Colby has had some bad ideas, but Americans had better pray that he and a few others who are trying to take control know what they're doing. (Translated by Tu Qi)

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7526854739432276534/

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