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Chris, Zack, and Melanie sit down to talk about the recently-released Biden-Harris National Security Strategy. Several months delayed, the document recognizes that the United States is in an intense competition with China and asserts that Washington will look for ways to cooperate with both allies and adversaries on important global challenges such as climate change. Does the NSS assess the threat environment correctly? How will the United States manage both competition and cooperation with adversaries? Is the U.S. doing what it must to “outmaneuver” China during this “decisive decade”?

Chris is bothered that it is hard to have an honest debate about what the United States is doing in Ukraine, Zack discusses the legacy of Ash Carter, and Melanie is appalled that American military pilots have been selling their services to the Chinese military.

Episode Reading:

• Biden-Harris Administration National Security Strategy, The White House, October 2022.
• Jake Sullivan, Press Call on National Security Strategy, The White House, October 12, 2022.
• Nahal Toosi, “‘Frustrated and Powerless’: In Fight with China for Global Influence, Diplomacy is America’s Biggest Weakness,” Politico, October 23, 2022.
• Alan Rappeport, Ana Swanson, and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, “Biden’s ‘Made in America’ Policies Anger Key Allies,” New York Times, October 14, 2022.
• Yasmeen Abutaleb, “Liberal lawmakers urge Biden to shift Ukraine strategy,” The Washington Post, October 25, 2022.
• “Experts React: Biden Administration’s National Security Strategy,” Stimson Center, October 14, 2022.
• Craig Whitlock and Nate Jones, “Former U.S. Navy Leaders Profited from Overlapping Interests on Sub Deal,” Washington Post, October 18, 2022.
• Katherine Lawlor and Kateryna Stepanenko, “Warning Update: Russia May Conduct a Chemical or Radiological False-Flag Attack as a Pretext for Greater Aggression against Ukraine,” Institute for the Study of War, 2022.
• “The passing of Ash Carter,” Harvard Kennedy School, October 25, 2022.

Image: The White House