Photograph Source: Priscilla Corrales/Presidencia de la República de Costa Rica – Public Domain

In the wake of 9/11, there has been a dangerous militarization of our national security and foreign policies. The military has been used to secure foreign policy goals, and the intelligence community has been militarized and politicized. Spending on defense has been excessive and even reckless. The presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden contributed to these problems with the misuse of military power after the 9/11 attacks. But it has been the authoritarian style of the Trump presidency that has made U.S. national security policy dangerous and dysfunctional. In the process, our democracy at home and our credibility and influence abroad have been weakened.

The two most important institutions for implementing national security decisions—the Department of State and the National Security Council—have essentially vanished. The fact that both of these institutions are in the hands of former senator Marco Rubio would be risible if it were not so dangerous. Rubio spends little time at the State Department, and there is no record of meetings of the NSC to discuss such key issues as the Russia-Ukraine War or the possibility of a renewed Iran nuclear deal. Both of these serious issues are in the hands of two billionaire real estate brokers, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the prodigal presidential son-in-law. Neither has expertise in the issues they are negotiating, and as recently as last week both were in Geneva, shuttling back and forth to meet with key negotiators from Iran, Russia, and Ukraine. This is amateur hour.

Rubio’s two positions at the State Department and the NSC represent a serious conflict of interest. The secretary of state must spend time abroad, while the national security advisor traditionally rarely leaves the White House. More importantly, the national security adviser is supposed to be a neutral policy broker, who organizes and manages national security decision-making. The Department of Sate is a major participant, usually holding strong foreign policy views.

The Secretary of Defense is another participant, and Pete Hegseth is a formal member of the NSC. However, there is no record of his attendance at a meeting of the NSC. Trump’s first few weeks in office witnessed the firing of at least half the members of the NSC because a far-right activist and conspiracy theorist, Laura Loomer, convinced Trump of their disloyalty to the president.

The history of the Department of State goes back to the beginnings of the Republic. The secretary of state is the first among cabinet members in the line of succession to the presidency. The department is the leading foreign affairs agency for conducting foreign policy, and representing the United States in international matters, particularly the negotiation of treaties. Today, however, foreign diplomats in the United States contend that they have no counterparts at the Department of State prepared to discuss U.S. policy.

As a result of the dysfunction of the national security state, we find ourselves in the most dangerous time in recent history. There has never been a weaker or less experienced group of men and women in command at the key decision-making institutions for foreign policy. Spending on defense is out of control. The last arms control agreement with Russia was allowed to expire this month, and the Trump team lacks the experience needed to discuss serious arms control matters if negotiations ever resume.

Meanwhile, unneeded appropriations for strategic weapons and strategic defense are contributing to a renewed arms race with Russia and China. The use of force is random, with Trump conducting military operations in the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, Western Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Trump ignores the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which was designed to check presidential use of force without congressional authorization. The Congress does nothing to remind him of its existence.

Under Trump’s rule, we also witnessing the militarization of law enforcement at home. Uniformed military troops have patrolled city streets as part of a Trump-directed campaign against crime. The military deployment in such key cities as Chicago, Los Angeles, Memphis, New Orleans, and Portland violated the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 that was designed to prevent the use of the military to enforce domestic law. The deployment in Minneapolis led to the killing of two American citizens.

Next week’s national security column will discuss what is needed to stabilize the foreign policy process.

The post Trump’s National Security Team: Dangerous and Dysfunctional appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

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