July 11, 2023

America Is Pushing Its Security Ideas on a Lukewarm Middle East

Rare consensus in Washington is an opportunity the Gulf countries and Israel should not waste.

By: Jonathan Lord and Arona Baigal

Nothing will kill legislation faster than when it becomes a political football on Washington’s Capitol Hill. So it has been refreshing to see members of both parties and houses of the U.S. Congress, with firm support from the administration, rally around a vision for the future of U.S. military engagement in the Middle East. The plan calls for the creation of a Middle Eastern security architecture that joins the military capabilities of U.S. Central Command (Centcom), the Israeli Defense Forces, and the militaries of neighboring Arab states to detect and defend against threats emanating from regional adversaries, mainly Iran.

Washington wants to connect its Middle Eastern partners in ways that deliver collective security benefits greater than the sum of any one nation’s military’s parts.

Last year, as part of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Congress passed the Deterring Enemy Forces and Enabling National Defenses (DEFEND) Act, which authorized the U.S. Defense secretary to establish an integrated air and missile defense system with Israel and other Middle Eastern partner militaries. The bill enjoyed broad bicameral and bipartisan support when it was introduced. Once it was attached to the NDAA, its path from bill to law was sealed.

Read the full article from Foreign Policy.

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