Biden’s Incoming National Security Adviser Faults Pentagon’s ‘Obstruction’



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Jake Sullivan is President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming national security adviser.

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His remarks followed a day after similar comments by Biden himself, which prompted the response from Miller. Sullivan, however, went into greater detail about the frustrations Biden’s team has with feeling boxed out of the current posture of the government, including the war in Afghanistan.

The United States has been hoping to broker peace negotiations within Afghanistan between its Washington-backed government and the insurgent Taliban. Biden has vowed to wind down what he called America’s «forever wars,» a goal he broadly shares with Trump. But Sullivan complained to NPR on Tuesday that if the incoming administration can’t know what’s happening with those types of issues, that could delay its ability to act once in office.

«It kind of comes back to the lack of visibility that we have right now into a number of critical issues relating to military operations because of DoD’s obstruction and roadblocks,» he said, «and that will mean that we are going to have to take time at the beginning of the administration after Jan. 20 to take a hard look at how we’re postured, and what threats we’re up against, and what continuing the drawdowns look like in the way of risk to force and other considerations.»

Connecting the strategic to the local

Sullivan also discussed his and Biden’s desires to bridge foreign policy and national security decision-making in Washington with the lives of everyday Americans. A globalized world and the sweeping implications of what can seem like distant statecraft mean that people have a stake in geopolitical issues even if they don’t feel that way, he said.

An obvious example is China, Sullivan said, which is a vital trading partner to the U.S. even as it also seeks to rival American influence.


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Trump’s administration hollowed out foreign policymaking in these types of areas and dealt with counterparts in Beijing on behalf of Trump and powerful interests, Sullivan said — not according to the mindset he says Biden will adopt in the White House.

«What were their negotiating priorities? What did they push for? Well one of the things they pushed for was access for major U.S. financial institutions to do business in China,» Sullivan said. «And the question I would pose is, what does that have to do with jobs and wages here in the United States, making it easier for the likes of JPMorgan or Goldman Sachs to be able to carry out financial activities in Beijing or Shanghai? I would say it doesn’t have a strong nexus to the well being and welfare of the American middle class.»

Sullivan said he and Biden would attempt to draw a line from more vital problems to their policymaking, such as the theft by China of American industrial and commercial secrets — which harms American companies and, he suggested, U.S. workers.



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