Manchurian President Trump Doesn’t List Russia Among Department Of Defense Priorities

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:43 pm

A memo obtained by Foreign Policy magazine details the incoming Trump administration’s priorities for the Department of Defense. Conspicuously missing from the list was Russia.

Foreign Policy reported:
A Pentagon memo outlining the incoming Trump administration’s top “defense priorities” identifies defeating the Islamic State, eliminating budget caps, developing a new cyber strategy, and finding greater efficiencies as the president-elect’s primary concerns. But the memo, obtained by Foreign Policy, does not include any mention of Russia, which has been identified by senior military officials as the No. 1 threat to the United States.

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Besides placing an emphasis on budgetary issues, “force strength,” and counterterrorism in Iraq and Syria, the memo noted other briefings between the Defense Department and the Trump transition team on China and North Korea. But Russia was not mentioned.

Keep in mind that this was only a single memo, but is troubling that any list of priorities did not contain Russia. Trump’s friendly stance towards Russia has carried over the campaign to his transition team to his cabinet nominees. At a time when there is a bipartisan effort in Congress to launch an investigation into Russia’s cyber activities, the incoming administration didn’t include Russia on the list of top defense priorities.

At best, the incoming Trump might be incompetent. At worst, the next president’s administration is in the back pocket of America’s number one enemy. There is something very wrong with this picture, as any president who ignores the number one enemy of the United States of America could be committing a crime against his country.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association