Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
7/17/2015
After the State Department this week expressed its opposition to Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford’s statement to Congress last week that Russia is the greatest national security threat to the U.S., largely because of its nuclear capabilities, the nominee to be the next Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (VCJCS) on Tuesday told senators he agrees with his military colleague. “I would put the threats to this nation in the following order: Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, and all of the organizations that have grown around the ideology that was articulated by Al-Qaida early in the turn of this century,” VCJCS nominee Air Force Gen. Paul Selva said during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “And that’s not to say that each or any of those present a clear and present danger today. But in that order, you see the countries that are peer and near-peer competitors who are developing conventional and nuclear weapons that match our own.”
Kerry, Senior DoD Official Disagree with Dunford
On July 9, Dunford, the nominee to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: “[I]n Russia, we have a nuclear power. We have one that not only has capability to violate sovereignty of our allies and to do things that are inconsistent with our national interests, but they’re in the process of doing so.” One day later, Deputy State Department spokesman Marc Toner said Secretary of State John Kerry disagrees with Dunford’s words, adding that his job calls for him to give candid advice on military matters. “General Dunford is expected to provide his views, his assessment on which nations or entities pose a threat to the United States, and that’s his job,” Toner said during the department’s daily press briefing. “We certainly…recognize the challenges that Russia, primarily through its actions in Ukraine, pose to the region….[W]e’ve taken many steps, from reassurance measures with our NATO allies to pursuing a peaceful diplomatic solution in Ukraine via the Minsk commitments and implementation of them to address those challenges. But I would add that the Secretary doesn’t agree with the assessment that Russia is an existential threat to the United States[.]” Toner underscored ongoing areas of cooperation between the U.S. and Russia, including the Iran nuclear talks. “We’re very frank with Russia on where we disagree, including its actions in Ukraine,” he said. “And yet we also – there are areas where we cooperate, such as preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”
During a speech Monday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Christine Wormuth, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, also questioned Dunford’s comments, noting that most post-Cold War threats, such as al-Qaida, have arisen unexpectedly. “In this complex security environment, the benefit of doing a one-to-end list of threats as priorities, I’m not sure how necessary that is,” she said. But Wormuth added that Russia is a “serious issue” for the U.S. because of its “extremely large nuclear arsenal” and strengthening conventional capabilities, among other factors.
Currently commander of U.S. Transportation Command, Selva also told senators on Tuesday that Russia is a special area of concern because the country possesses “the conventional and nuclear capability to be an existential threat to this nation should they chose to do so.” SASC members are expected to decide whether to confirm Selva and Dunford in the coming weeks.
