America's Skewed National Security Priorities - Andrew J. Bacevich, Boston Globe opinion.
When requirements are great and resources limited, setting the right priorities becomes essential. Yet events in recent years - the ineffective government response to the BP oil spill being the latest - have made it clear that US national security priorities are badly out of whack. Last week, President Obama designated the oil spill his "top priority.'' No doubt the president spoke from the heart. For the national security establishment over which he presides, however, pacifying Kandahar continues to take precedence over protecting Louisiana's Grand Isle...
From one administration to the next, the US government has failed to anticipate the threats actually endangering the well-being of the American people. Worse, when those threats materialize - here at home, not in Central Asia or the Persian Gulf - authorities respond belatedly and ineffectually. Even as Washington has fixated on distant wars of dubious necessity, Americans have lost their savings, lost their jobs, and lost their homes. Some have lost their lives, others have lost their livelihood.
A century ago, Americans paid considerable attention to their "near abroad.'' Today they all but ignore it. Compare US policy toward Afghanistan, located on the other side of the world, with US policy toward our neighbor, Mexico. To assist Afghans, Washington will seemingly spare no expense. When it comes to Mexico, Washington builds a chain-link fence. Yet whether the issue is trade, drugs, or security, Mexico's importance to the United States outranks Afghanistan's by orders of magnitude...
More at The Boston Globe.