Strategic challenges after the 9/11 wars.

• Author: McNamara, Thomas E.
• Position: Viewpoint essay

Introduction

It does not take a "foreign policy wonk" to notice that U.S. global influence today is weaker than at any time since the end of World War II. There are many reasons for this, but two rarely get mentioned, yet they are critical.

We and our European allies have moved apart in the past ten years. This is a major weakness for both sides of the Atlantic because, Asian "pivot" or not, the Atlantic Community has determined and will determine the influence, wealth, and power of The West for the foreseeable future. Make no mistake, the U.S. would never have been a superpower but for the development and unity of the Atlantic Community in the 20th C. The Community has kept Western thought, values, culture, and institutions in the forefront, despite being undermined by two devastating civil wars in Europe.

A second, important reason for our decline is that domestically, we are suffering from a most bitter, dysfunctional, political partisanship, which permeates all levels of our politics--the worst in my professional lifetime as a career diplomat. It is so bad that Ebola has become a political football.

We are not properly governing ourselves. We know it, and our friends and adversaries know it. The American public decries the divisions, yet it votes to continue, and even enhance, them. The righteous militants insist they have absolute answers, failing to see that their absolutism is a principal cause of our inability to govern.

It is important to put this second observation up front because our position in the world depends critically on the strength of the nation at home. Another way of saying it is (apologies to A. Lincoln) that a house divided cannot long maintain primacy in global affairs. As a result, we are still the primary world power, but no longer the indispensable nation.

This is not the lament of an old warrior, unable to see the vision of a new tomorrow. It is the observation of a professional diplomat who spent half his career functioning under a coherent national security strategy, and half without one. Our primacy in 1945 was unchallenged, as it was in 1992. In the two decades since, we have stumbled, and not because of one president or one party.

As our forces depart Afghanistan and Iraq, we are entering a new Post-9/11 Wars period. We must reassess our strategic position and come to a minimum national understanding of our international commitments and our role as leader. Otherwise drift and decline will continue.

The Need To Establish Priorities

Our main problem is not the complexity of the issues we face, though they are many and serious. Neither is it the strength of those wishing to displace us, though they have significant power. The main cause is our failure to establish strategic priorities and ensure that we have the diplomatic, economic, and military capability to implement them. Until we set priorities, we are driven by tactics, which means by headlines, pressure groups, conflicting demands, and partisan considerations, instead of by national interests. Without defined priorities, we cannot say to ourselves, or others, that we have a strategy. Without a strategy our allies and partners deal cautiously with us, uncertain of what we will do. Our adversaries are suspicious and quick to oppose, not knowing what our intentions are.

We have had these strategic debates at the end of all previous wars--except the Cold War. Recall...