In February 2023, the Biden administration released its Conventional Arms Transfer (CAT) policy.[1] The new CAT policy was a long time coming, but whether it was worth the wait and will substantively shape US arms transfers is a matter of debate. On the campaign trail, Biden had made numerous statements about better controlling US arms…
Tag: Biden administration
H-Diplo|ISSF Commentary I-3 on the 2022 US National Security Strategy
[Our essayists decided that the best analysis of the Biden administration’s 2022 strategy would take the form of a Gothic dialogue between American founders –ed.] Outside Philadelphia, Two Ghosts Walk into a Bar. James Madison: [cheerily] Who wants a drink? President Biden’s National Security Strategy [NSS] is here! John Adams: Convince me to care. Every…
H-Diplo|ISSF Commentary: Avey, “The Biden and Trump National Security Strategies: Continuity, Change, and the Implications for Scholars”
Despite a sense that most formal strategy documents do not matter much, there is a great deal of attention to a President’s National Security Strategy (NSS) when it is released.[1] Scholars, think tank analysts, and pundits are quick to comment on its strengths and, more commonly, highlight its flaws. The release of President Joe Biden’s…
H-Diplo|ISSF Commentary “Fear and the Logic of Othering: Decoding the Biden Administration’s 2022 National Security Strategy”
As result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration delayed the release of the new National Security Strategy (NSS) until October 2022.[1] At first glance, it is impossible to avoid noting that the entire NSS—which analysts have described as a disappointing document and “a laundry list of challenges, threats, and responses”[2] —revolves around…
Policy Series 2021-30: The Biden Administration and Russia: Digging Out of a Deep Hole
After President Donald Trump’s four years in office the U.S.-Russian relationship ended where it began: hostile, recriminatory, unproductive, and disengaged. Thus, the Biden administration starts from where roughly the Obama administration left off, only the hole is deeper, because Russia’s cyber intrusions have added a paralyzing dimension to the mix of problems. But where precisely…