Putin Is Delaying the National Security Strategy

Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN’s threat to Ukraine is scuttling the Biden administration’s hopes of soon releasing a National Security Strategy, NatSec Daily has learned.

The legally required document could change significantly depending on whether and how the Russian leader invades Ukraine. But overall, President JOE BIDEN and his aides are unlikely to change their core assertion that China, not Russia, is the greater long-term threat to America.

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ANDREA KENDALL-TAYLOR, a former U.S. intelligence official with expertise on Russia and authoritarianism, hopes the Biden team has lost any illusions that it could simply brush the Kremlin aside or even just manage it without too much hassle.

She said Russia-related changes to Biden’s NSS shouldn’t be merely cosmetic because the Ukraine crisis is “an important turning point in Russian-U.S. relations.” That’s the case even if Putin doesn’t stage an all-out invasion, she said. If he does, it’s entirely possible there will be internal U.S. government competition over an allocation of resources for how to respond, she said.

At the moment, Putin seems unlikely to walk back his threats, Kendall-Taylor said, adding, “I think he’s ready to break things.”

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