Chinese military officers celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration today declared that the United States finds itself in a “decisive decade” where it must grapple with a twofold problem: growing competition with major powers like China that threaten to reshape the international order, as well as global challenges that include pandemics, climate change, inflation and other economic security crises.
The Biden administration’s National Security Strategy released today “makes clear that these shared challenges are not marginal issues, they are not secondary to geopolitics, but they operate on a plane alongside the geopolitical competition,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters during a briefing.
“This decisive decade is critical, both for defining the terms of competition, particularly with the PRC [People’s Republic of China], and for getting ahead of nascent challenges,” he said. “If we lose the time this decade, we will not be able to keep pace with most notably the climate crisis, but other challenges as well.”
Within the 48-page NSS, the Biden administration argues that the United States must be prepared to work with its rivals on worldwide problems like climate change, food insecurity and energy issues that affect people on a global scale. But at the same time, it must also take action to deepen its relationships with other democratic states and ensure that it maintains its competitive edge over China and Russia.
The document lays out three lines of effort:
- Invest in “tools of American power and influence” by strengthening the economy, securing critical infrastructure and making investments into key technologies like microchips and semiconductors
- Build “the strongest possible coalition of nations” to solve global challenges by deepening trade and security agreements
- Modernize the military to contend with strategic threats like China and Russia, while also maintaining the ability to protect the homeland from terrorist threats
The release of the National Security Strategy today follows that of the classified National Defense Strategy and Nuclear Posture Review — two documents that more narrowly focused on the Pentagon and are typically published after the NSS, which lays out an administration’s broad thinking on national security issues.
Classified versions of the NDS and NPR were sent to Capitol Hill at the time of the release of the president’s budget request in March, but Sullivan said the administration held back the NSS due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“We thought it would be imprudent in such a fast moving and consequential moment — where it was really unclear exactly what direction that war would take — to go out with the strategy,” he said. “And, frankly, in February, there were a whole lot of people who thought the war would be over rapidly and Russia would be in a much better position today.”
While the war didn’t “fundamentally” alter the administration’s approach to national security, “what has actually unfolded over the last six months, which has defied many of the expectations in conventional wisdom, is a vindication of taking our time and being methodical in putting forward the strategy,” he said.
Sullivan said the NSS “will be the foundation upon which you will see the public release of the National Defense Strategy that includes the Nuclear Posture Review and the Missile Defense Review,” but did not provide information on the timing of those documents.
Continuity Of Policy
The portion of the NSS focused on the US military shares many common through lines with previous strategies, including a focus on China as the military’s “pacing challenge” and a stated intent to maintain a nuclear triad. The biggest difference the focus on “integrated deterrence” — a Biden administration buzzword that calls for greater integration throughout the military services, other US government organizations and with allies and partners.
In short, the idea is to press an adversary’s back to the wall by being able to impose many different consequences for a given course of action. “Integrated deterrence requires us to more effectively coordinate, network, and innovate so that any competitor thinking about pressing for advantage in one domain understands that we can respond in many others as well,” the strategy states.
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The strategy also highlights the importance of the defense industrial base to achieving US defense goals, with the administration stating its intent to invest in “a range of advanced technologies” including space and cyber technologies, missile defeat capabilities, artificial intelligence and quantum systems.
Industry “must not only be capable of rapidly manufacturing proven capabilities needed to defend against adversary aggression, but also empowered to innovate and creatively design solutions as battlefield conditions evolve,” the strategy states.
The strategy lays out a mandate with regards to the two biggest US adversaries: Outcompete China and constrain Russia.
The NSS clearly spells out China as the biggest threat to the United States, with the document calling it “the only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to advance that objective.”
Although China hopes to use its economic and technological prowess to advance its own authoritarian interests, it is possible for the US and China to coexist peacefully, the strategy states.
“We will hold Beijing accountable for abuses – genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, human rights violations in Tibet, and the dismantling of Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms,” the NSS states. However, the United States will be willing to work with China when its interests align with America’s own.
“While we compete vigorously, we will manage the competition responsibly,” the strategy states. “We will seek greater strategic stability through measures that reduce the risk of unintended military escalation, enhance crisis communications, build mutual transparency, and ultimately engage Beijing on more formal arms control efforts.”
Russia, on the other hand, poses an “immediate” threat as exemplified by the war in Ukraine, with the potential to be a “seriously dangerous adversary” due to its nuclear arsenal, Sullivan said.
The US must continue to take steps to make Russia’s invasion into Ukraine a strategic failure for Moscow, including fortifying NATO’s eastern flank, weakening Russia’s defense and aerospace industries, and adding Sweden and Finland to NATO.
“While some aspects of our approach will depend on the trajectory of the war in Ukraine, a number of elements are already clear,” the strategy states. “First, the United States will continue to support Ukraine in its fight for its freedom, we will help Ukraine recover economically, and we will encourage its regional integration with the European Union.”
Russia’s war with Ukraine also makes it more vital for the United States and its allies to transition away from fossil fuels and develop energy resiliency.
“We know that long-term energy security depends on clean energy,” the strategy states. “Recognizing this transition will not happen overnight, we will work with partners and allies to ensure energy security and affordability, secure access to critical mineral supply chains, and create a just transition for impacted workers.”
