Get On With It America Resume Full

The horror of what Russia is doing to Ukraine is with me every single day. It’s a grinding, emotional, sorrowful watch, spiked by our national disgrace of having withdrawn indispensable weapons support in the midst of battle. It is all the worse given that the current Trump policy is a reversal of an earlier and far more principled one. This should be about helping a profoundly violated nation defend itself.

No heavy moral judgments are necessary here, no mincing of words or sermons, pondering what is really right. This is simple: the United States has abused, demeaned, lectured, and welched on a deal to support a friendly nation, while currying favor with a corrupt international criminal of diminutive height and global standing. It has been done by an American president who lacks the lights to lead our country, is unprincipled, singularly corrupt and actually embodies some of the same loathsome qualities as the Russian chieftain he admires. Our course and duty here is also glaringly simple: just step in and help Ukraine.

The history of my personal life, quite apart from America’s wars, was peaceful, blessed with much good luck, and the good fortune of growing up in the 1950’s amidst the explosive development and blossoming of our nation. After the US Navy, I spent thirty years in the CIA, a period focused intently, among other crises in the Middle East and South Asia, on the then destructive instincts of the Soviet Union.

The point is that epic struggle between the USA and USSR was a hallmark of my focus on our national security throughout much of my adult life. The collapse of the USSR in 1991 was followed by a hopeful stretch of a few years, until the ghost of Christmas past reappeared as Putin. Alas, the material threat once posed by a confrontational, truculent Russia visits again. China is inarguably long-term, but Russia is here, now and warring.

So, let’s grant ourselves some rightful recognition for some of the laurels we earned over the years the United States who as the good guy stood up for the little guy, the great nation that was able and willing and did in fact stand up to thuggish aggressors. We weren’t always right but we thought we were. I’m thinking of countries, past and present, who start unprovoked and unjust wars of aggression and expansion. Countries that score war crimes that the world faithfully and painfully documents, but which can exit into history unscathed but for the good guys who come to call them to account.

Increased sanctions against Russia are ok, if you want them, but they are grossly overhyped, much less meaningful than their supporters claim, and don’t amount to a hill of beans when it comes to helping Ukraine defeat Russian aggression. Go ahead, put more sanctions on Russia if it makes you feel better senators, but do get serious and turn your efforts in chamber and with the president to resume the provision of badly needed arms and missile/drone defense. That is what is needed, so please get on with it.

Initially founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 270 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.