On Lawfare, while reading Professor Dakota S. Rudesill’s analysis of policy changes from the Obama Administration to the Trump Administration with regard to cyber warfare, I couldn’t help but reflect on alternative explanations for this:
It is by now clear that the Trump administration is pursuing a broad project of driving responsibility for national security decisions down the chain of command, and reducing review by the White House’s National Security Council (NSC) interagency process. The result is to empower agency-level actors, particularly cabinet secretaries, the directors of the NSA and CIA, and military commanders. But decision devolution also drives up risks of uncoordinated government activity. Ultimately, the president is coming to bear less practical responsibility, and potentially less political responsibility, even as he retains ultimate constitutional and moral responsibility for what happens on his watch.
My question: who made this decision? President Trump? Or someone who doesn’t really want Trump involved in decisions for which he’s clearly not prepared? Steve Benen had similar remarks as well:
I realize many of us have grown inured to the bizarre circumstances we find ourselves in, but I’m inclined to stick that excerpted paragraph in a time capsule. The amateur president of a global superpower just says things, and no one — including White House officials — has any idea what to make of his orders or whether anyone intends to act on them.
As we discussed a few weeks ago, this comes up with alarming regularity. For example, Trump announced in June that he had “instructed” U.S. officials “not to endorse” an official G-7 communique negotiated by diplomats from member nations. Officials didn’t much care about the tweet and they proceeded to ignore Trump’s online instructions.
& etc. I’ve remarked on the long-term consequences of this de facto policy of treating the President like a child to be ignored, and while long-term the consequences are negative, we must first survive the short-term, which may require this regrettable policy.
