– what are some of the key steps you would take those things wrong. So go back to the first principles. And the first principle in this case is, are we doing to reboot that? WH: Let’s start with foreign policy. After being absolutely everything we can within our power to connected to the national security apparatus or the prevent the massacre of innocent people? I’m not national security community for over two decades, talking about sending American troops. But we should I have come to believe in a simple principle -- your be sending as much equipment that the Ukrainians can friends should love you and your enemy should fear absorb. Also, why did Vladimir Putin make this you. When you have the President of Ukraine asking us to do more and the President of Russia increasing decision now? Because he watched what happened the death and destruction, that means the President of in Afghanistan and the disaster of the pullout from Ukraine isn’t in love with you because he wants you to Afghanistan and he assumed that the American public had no appetite to do more, and the President support Ukraine. Putin of Russia is not afraid of misread the resolve of the you because he doesn’t Ukrainian people and he think you’ll do anything in misread the resolve of the response. Western Alliance. But the I think when it comes longer this conflict goes on, to the conflict that will the more impact it’s going determine whether or not to have on our European the American economy stays allies having to deal with the most important economy the effect of sanctions and in the world, the fate of that the growing humanitarian conflict will be determined crisis with Ukrainian by a number of advanced refugees. That’s going technologies, like 5G, to put pressure on these artificial intelligence cloud governments, and we may computing, hyper-sonics, start seeing fissures within and biotech. If the federal the Western alliance. government continues to show an inability to RF: Finally, turning your introduce new technologies attention to the upcoming into the government at election – Republicans are speed, or work with the now expected to retake the private sector effectively, or Our political system today House and possibly the cooperate with our allies in is designed not to produce Senate. Do you have any these areas, then the rest of problem solvers. It’s designed advice for your former the century is not going to colleagues as they stay the American century. I to produce bomb throwers. campaign this fall and believe we can. But one of look to possibly take the the problems we have in the reins of government next government is we always think about the last war. We need to get our eyes year? WH: In 2022, when Republicans win, we are going looking through the windshield, rather than the rearto win because Democrats have been incompetent and view mirror. because the American public is not interested in the RF: You mentioned Ukraine. As a former kinds of things Democrats were trying to do. That intelligence officer with the CIA and member means we have to put forward a vision of where we of the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol think we need to go. And when we have control, we Hill, what is your assessment of the situation in need to actually solve problems. Because if we don’t solve some of these major Ukraine and U.S. policy in that regard? WH: My assessment is that America should be problems -- which is going to require working with doing more. The reason I say that is because we always the Biden Administration -- then all of the problems in think that we’re going to understand the second, third, the country are going to get blamed on a Republican fourth, and fifth order of effects of what’s going to Congress, and then we’re going to see the exact RF happen. If we do something, we’re going to always get opposite result in 2024. 6
RIPON FORUM May 2022
