Karoun Demirjian, Washington Post/Miami Herald: Lack of Russia experts has some in U.S. worried
* National security apparatus relies on looser regime of more junior experts who lack the reach to directly influence policy
* Resources dedicated to the expertise needed to gain a better understanding of Moscow, its plans doesn’t reflect existential threat
WASHINGTON - While the international war against the Islamic State and a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran underscore Russia’s growing influence in major foreign policy challenges around the world, there are growing concerns that Washington’s lack of understanding of its one-time chief adversary is proving to be a critical national security risk.
Top intelligence and national security officials – including the top general of NATO – have warned that the United States’ depth of knowledge and capacity for collecting information on Russia is not up to snuff, given the stakes of the conflicts at hand and the threat an unpredictable Kremlin poses to U.S. interests.
WNU Editor: When you have people like Victoria Nuland (assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs) as being one of your top specialists in understanding what Russia is doing .... you know that you have a problem. I know in my case .... with all of my travels, correspondence, business, etc. .... I have yet to meet an official in the U.S. State Department (or in any of the other U.S. branches) who has an understanding of what is happening in Russia. This is a situation that I find very perplexing. There are a millions of Russian immigrants in the U.S. right now .... they are a huge source of info and intel on what is happening in Russia .... but they are ignored. Instead .... the focus is on people like Garry Kasparov, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, or Alexei Navalny ... opponents to Russian President Putin, but not necessarily the people to listen to when it comes to understanding Russian foreign policy or strategy.
2 comments:
Simple answer: When the Cold War was "over," the institutions - private, government and university - decided to purge their memories and experience. No more money in it, for one. And the leftists didn't want to be reminded of the bad old days, for two. Especially when there were other parts of the world to dwell over.
WNU Editor,
It started under Carter, (Brezinski), accelerated under Reagan, and was complete by Bush 1. Idealogues replaced Experts in State, the Alphabit Agencies, the Pentagon, because the US " leaders", didn't want to hear anything contrary to their ideaology.
Which is why the fall of the Soviet surprised the States, why there was no effective aid or advice given to soften the "lost Decade" in Russia, and why everything that has happened since then "surprises" the so called experts.
It was a slow motion copy, and less "criminal" than the "Who Lost China" purges that left the US blind on China through the '50's to the late '70's.
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