by Fred Fleitz
There is only one word to describe the result of President Biden’s foreign policy: chaos.
Just consider how we have seen the Biden administration treat Israel, one of America’s closest and most important allies.
Biden officials have been far more critical of Israel than Hamas in the aftermath of the horrific October 7 Hamas terrorist attack, during which over 1,200 Israelis were brutally murdered. Biden officials haven’t been demanding that Hamas release the hostages it took during this attack or agree to an immediate cease-fire. Instead, they have been publicly pressuring Israel to stop the war in Gaza because this conflict is extremely unpopular with Biden’s progressive base and is hurting him in the polls.
Moreover, because of his differences with Israel over the war in Gaza, last week Biden said he was withholding weapons from Israel that recently were approved by Congress. But this week, the Biden administration said it was moving forward on a new $1 billion arms deal for Israel.
Adding to this confusion, the Washington Post reported on May 13 that the Biden administration is withholding sensitive intelligence on Hamas and is refusing to share this information until the Netanyahu government makes concessions to not launch a full-scale raid into the southern Gaza city of Rafah. This intelligence reportedly concerns the whereabouts of Hamas’s leadership and Hamas tunnels in southern Gaza.
Think about that. President Biden is actually withholding terrorism-related intelligence from a close U.S. ally while it is at war against a terrorist group.
And it gets worse. Iran fired over 300 missiles and drones at Israel on April 13, the first Iranian attack ever against targets on Israeli soil. There have been more than 150 attacks by Iranian proxies against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since October 2023. Yemen’s Houthi rebels have fired dozens of advanced drones and missiles against ships in the Red Sea since last October. And the Biden administration’s refusal to enforce U.S. sanctions against Iran caused its revenues to be $71 billion greater by last fall than they would have been if Trump-era sanctions had been enforced.
These troubling developments in the Middle East are part of a broader deterioration of global security during the Biden administration, including the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an increase in Chinese military provocations against Taiwan and in the South China Sea, a surge in North Korean missile launches, major advances in Iran’s nuclear weapons program, and a new anti-Western “axis” comprised of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
It is hard to believe there could be so much global chaos during just over three years of a U.S. presidency.
It didn’t have to be this way.
We have witnessed a profound deterioration in international security since 2021, not just because of the Biden administration’s national security incompetence but also because of the president’s deliberate decision to reverse the successful national security strategy of the Trump administration and replace it with failed policies of the past.
This Trump strategy is called the America First approach to U.S. national security. This strategy brought our country a period of peace, kept U.S. troops out of new conflicts abroad, and resulted in important foreign policy achievements such as the Abraham Accords.
You have probably read articles by liberal pundits who constantly and falsely claim that President Trump’s national security policies were isolationist or “America alone.” The truth is, considering the Trump administration’s robust foreign policy and successful diplomatic engagements around the world, these claims are clearly false.
It is also not true that America First means the U.S. should withdraw from NATO or avoid working with alliances and allies. However, it does require that alliance members pay their fair share for defending their regions.
The America First approach protected U.S. sovereignty by putting the interests of the American people above the demands of the United Nations, European leaders, and American globalists. This approach makes it clear that American presidents, not the UN or globalists, make U.S. foreign policy. In addition, the Trump administration withdrew from international agreements and organizations such as the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris Climate Accords, the World Health Organization, and other corrupt, anti-U.S. international organizations because they infringed on U.S. sovereignty and were harmful to U.S. interests.
America First national security policies also strongly promote homeland security, border security, energy security, and free and fair trade.
Moreover, coupled with weak presidential leadership, the capabilities and morale of our military have been eroded since 2021 because the Biden administration sacrificed training and readiness for goals that are not related to our national defense, like fighting climate change, racism, DEI, and the effects of fossil fuels. This has seriously undermined American leadership and global deterrence. It also consequently emboldened American adversaries and rogue states.
It is undeniable that our world today is much more unstable and dangerous because President Biden abandoned President Trump’s successful America First national security policies. It is therefore urgent that we return to these policies to undo the damage that the Biden administration has done to American and global security.
The America First Policy Institute makes a case for returning the Trump-era national security policies in its new book, “An America First Approach to U.S. National Security.” With chapters by 15 leading national security experts, including Lt. Gen. (ret) Keith Kellogg, Congressman Michael Waltz, former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, and former State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus, we explain in detail how this approach works, its successes during the Trump administration, and how a future U.S. president can restore these policies.
It is my hope that our new book, “An America First Approach to U.S. National Security” will serve as an intellectual framework that future presidents can use to implement and develop effective and responsible national security policies that keep America safe and put the interests of the American people first.
I also hope this book assists a new president in promptly halting the global chaos caused by Joe Biden’s national security incompetence starting in January 2025.
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Fred Fleitz is vice-chair of the America First Policy Institute Center for American Security and editor of “An America First Approach to U.S. National Security,” available from Amazon.com. He previously served as National Security Council chief of staff, CIA analyst, and a House Intelligence Committee staff member.
