October 18, 2017
'Across the Pond, In the Field': bringing U.S. foreign policy out of the Washington bubble
Like many folks in the nation’s capital, I’m not originally from Washington. I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit and return home to the Midwest at least a couple times every year. For the 20 years that I’ve lived and worked in Washington, I’ve considered myself to be relatively grounded and attuned to the sentiments and perspectives of everyday Americans. I have also been operating under the assumption that the divide between the right and the left is one of our greatest challenges.
It turns out that I was wrong, on a number of counts.
The election of Donald Trump last November revealed many things but for me, one lesson stood out: the widening disconnect between Washington and the rest of the country. For the record, I still worry about the widening disconnect between the right and left but at least in my field of national security, there exists a strong bipartisan consensus on the basic tenets of U.S. foreign policy. Republican and Democratic leaders working on national security, whether that’s in the government, think tanks or in Congress, tend to agree on the value of global trade, democratic governance, human rights, and global and regional alliances. Do they argue over what to do about the Iran deal and North Korea? Absolutely. But both parties have worked for decades to preserve and promote U.S. values and protect the world order that we helped create with our European allies some 70 years ago.
Read the full op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
More from CNAS
-
How to Kick-start Syria’s Reconstruction
Commentary
Given that there are so many stakeholders interested in Syria’s future, it’s unlikely that all countries will agree on the best way to support its transition, but they don’t n...
By Delaney Soliday & Kate Johnston
-
Sharper: America’s Edge
Commentary
A volatile global security environment requires the United States and its allies to develop new tactics and capabilities to deal with novel global threats. On June 3, policyma...
By Charles Horn
-
Ex-NATO Official: Putin Is ‘Stringing Along Trump’ to Push for Sanctions Relief
Video
Jim Townsend, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, weighs in on peace talks after the Putin-Zelenskyy-Trump call and whether the U.S. is failing...
By Jim Townsend
-
Ukraine Is Europe’s War. Isn’t It?
Commentary
The Trump administration therefore faces a choice: It can stand up to the Kremlin now, in Ukraine, or later....
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor
