2016 Offers a Chance to Change Our Foreign Policy

Dr. David Adesnik was a featured guest on Frank Gaffney’s radio show today. He’s the policy director at the Foreign Policy Initiative and also worked for the U.S. Department of Defense.

They spoke about foreign policy’s role in the 2016 election and how Obama’s failures have caused a shift in strategy which has been embraced by all the Republican candidates.

In the most alarming segment of their discussion, Adesnik described the ongoing investigation of terror operatives in the United States:

“We’ve heard from the director of the FBI that investigations are ongoing in all fifty states, this is not a big city or a coastal problem, this is the entire country. He said there are 900 investigations ongoing into violent extremism, half of which relate to ISIS, others may relate to non-Islamic groups and other Islamic groups as well.”

He also pointed out that the number of arrests related to these investigations is accelerating.

Gaffney went on to ask about the Obama administration’s use of the term “violent extremism” and whether it’s appropriate. Adesnik suggested that it makes sense as an umbrella term but that Obama has shied away from being more specific, even in cases which involve ISIS because he fears bigotry against Muslims in the United States. Essentially, Gaffney observed, the term is being used to obscure rather than inform.

Finally, the two discussed the lack of readiness in the U.S. military due to budget cuts. Adesnik said that although the armed forces may have the right number of members,

“They don’t have the training, they don’t have the resources to actually go and execute their mission if called upon.”

What this means according to Adesnik, is that if a major attack occurs, we may not be able to respond as quickly and effectively as one would presume. That’s a nightmare scenario.

Hopefully, that trend will start to change quickly with new leadership.