Security Challenges for the Next Administration

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In The Media

Security Challenges for the Next Administration

President-elect Barack Obama has assembled a bipartisan, centrist national security team, with an emphasis on pragmatic competence. Already faced with a daunting foreign policy inbox, the incoming administration must formulate a response to the Mumbai terrorist attacks without undermining either the current administration’s credibility or the already-weak Pakistani government.

By Jessica Tuchman Mathews

Published on Dec 2, 2008

Source: The Diane Rehm Show

President-elect Barack Obama introduced his national security team on Monday, a group that includes current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Marine General James Jones, and Senator Hillary Clinton. Speaking on the Diane Rehm Show, Jessica Mathews said that Obama’s choice to assemble a bipartisan, centrist team of foreign policy heavyweights indicates an emphasis on pragmatism and competence rather than ideology. Mathews predicted a high-energy approach to foreign policy, commensurate with the daunting inbox awaiting the new administration.

The terrorist attacks in Mumbai present a complex challenge for President-elect Obama, Mathews explained. He has had to react to an unfolding crisis and high expectations from the international community without undermining the current administration’s response. Obama will also inherit the current challenge facing President Bush: how to pressure the already-weak civilian government in Pakistan without destabilizing it. The choice of Mumbai, India’s financial hub, as a target indicates that the attacks were motivated by a complicated mix of local sectarian tension and backlash against globalization, the global economic order, and India’s participation in those realms.

Mathews observed that President-elect Obama will be “the first president to enjoy an international honeymoon,” and emphasized that Obama will need to capitalize on his tremendous popularity overseas to rebuild the U.S. relationship with Russia, restore its credibility as a broker in the Middle East peace process, and reposition itself vis-à-vis the world. Because the international influence of the United States rests on its economic power, however, recovering from the financial crisis must be the administration’s first priority.

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About the Author

Jessica Tuchman Mathews

Distinguished Fellow

Mathews is a distinguished fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She served as Carnegie’s president for 18 years.

Recent Work

In The Media
Washington Already Knows How to Deal with North Korea
- Jessica Tuchman Mathews
Commentary
Trump Wins—and Now?
- Jessica Tuchman Mathews

Political Reform Security Military Foreign Policy North America United States South Asia India Pakistan

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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Security Challenges for the Next Administration