The 2019 National Intelligence Strategy is out. The spat with Trump over this is trivial, compared with what that dialog is missing: VISION.
The document identifies threats to our security. That’s how its authors, the intelligence community (IC) see their role. Leadership of a nation takes much, much more, namely, VISION.
No American leaders that I know of, in either party, in Congress, or anywhere have expressed a vision for our country and its place in the world rooted in our history, world history, and general principles. Trump’s vision, make America great again, is an attempt, but falls well short of being a successful attempt. Among the entire pack of Democratic contenders, their vision is light-years away from policies derived from sober assessments of who we are, how we got here, who the other peoples in the world are, how they got there, where we’re all going, and how to get there. Instead, they leap to issues like sexual equality, gender change, redistribution of wealth and climate change, none of which stem from a comprehensive vision of the world, its peoples, their fundamental challenges, and how to meet those challenges. Potential leaders of both parties have tunnel vision, restricted vision, and they seem unable to express basic truths of history and our times in order to develop visions of the future that comprehend mankind’s nature and fundamental beliefs about who we are and where we are headed.
The IC document is not unimportant, but it is narrow, because the job of intelligence is narrow. The document is not intended to tell a comprehensive story of how we got here. It cannot tell a story of what to do about the problems it raises without soberly and truthfully telling us about how we got here. We cannot create new policies without understanding our system. A self-assessment is critical. We have to address basic questions. Do we want capitalism or don’t we? What’s proper for government to do, and what is not? What is our vision of our role in the world? How do we treat peoples who have different systems? How do we go about addressing threats to our well-being? What are our limits?
At present, all the major questions are either being answered by a vision that arose after World War 2, or else they are being ignored and swept under the rug. The IC document’s vision, such as it is, stresses the “…post-WWII international order and dominance of Western democratic ideals…” The IC outlook is defensive and negative in nature, tabulating threats and challenges to that vision. We need a positive vision from which flows the ways to deal with threats, without making the mistakes we’ve seen our government making time and again. We need to face up to those mistakes honestly and openly.
Make America great again is a call to get our own house in order. This is a sound idea. Doing it creates heat and frictions. That’s what resistance does. People inside government and outside have different visions about what that orderly house should look like and how to get it.
Anyone can offer a vision. There’s still free speech and a free market in ideas, and visions are ideas.
9:08 am on January 31, 2019
