VOA — The administration of new U.S. President Joe Biden is essentially doing away with the traditional distinction between domestic policy and foreign policy when it comes to tackling threats to the country’s security.
“Foreign policy is domestic policy and domestic policy is foreign policy,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told a virtual audience Friday.
“We have to put ourselves in a position of strength to be able to deal with the challenges we face around the world,” Sullivan said. “Right now, the most profound pressing national security challenge for the United States is getting our own house in order.”
The approach, on its face, might appear to be similar to the national security strategy former President Donald Trump rolled out just more than three years ago, which aimed to strengthen the country by putting “America First.”
U.S. President Donald Trump’s new national security strategy will provide the country with a “clear and actionable playbook” to counter the most dangerous and persistent threats, according to senior administration officials. The White House unveiled the strategic document Monday, almost 11 months after his administration began work on it.Trump explained how much of the strategy is already impacting U.S.
Sullivan, though, pitched the decision to stop categorizing threats as purely foreign or purely domestic as one of necessity — an acknowledgement that many of the dangers confronting the new administration do not respect borders or boundaries.
“We are facing a COVID-19 pandemic that continues to ravage our population,” he said. “We’re obviously facing the effects in every part of our country of a climate crisis.”
US adversaries
Sullivan also said the Biden administration is concerned about the way U.S. adversaries are increasingly using Washington’s domestic politics to gain leverage on the global stage.
“China is essentially making the case that the Chinese model is better than the American model,” he said. “They’re pointing to dysfunction and division in the United States and saying, ‘Take a look at that — their system doesn’t work. Our system does.’ “
The Biden administration national security adviser also argued that a strengthened U.S. foreign policy is critical to addressing domestic threats, such as domestic violent extremism, that are flourishing not in isolation but as part of worldwide trends.
Unlike the Trump administration, which increasingly frayed ties with traditional U.S. allies with its “America First” approach, Sullivan also said strengthening alliances would be a key priority as part of the Biden administration approach to national security.
“We are going to be most effective in advancing our vision for what a free, prosperous, equitable society looks like if we are doing so in lockstep with democratic allies and partners,” he said.
“By ourselves, we represent about a quarter of the world’s economy. With our allies and partners in both Europe and Asia, we represent more than half of the world’s economy,” Sullivan argued. “It provides us a chorus of voices that can drive the argument that says, ‘We are going to stand up for a certain set of principles in the face of aggression.’ ”
Despite such differences, Sullivan said, there are few disagreements between the Trump and Biden administrations about the countries posing the greatest threat to the U.S. He listed China, Russia and Iran as some of the biggest challenges.
Still, Sullivan said, how the U.S. deals with those threats will be changing.
China
During his four years in office, Trump’s rhetoric on China swung from praise for Chinese President Xi Jinping to criticism of Beijing over the spread of the coronavirus and for interfering in the 2020 presidential election.