Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s SitRep, where our levels of caffeine and pizza consumption this week are TS/SCI.
Here’s what’s on tap for the day: What we know so far about President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for the Department of Defense; a run-down of the leading (and rumored) contenders for the top national security jobs in the new administration; and the news that North Korea’s troops, well, they’re just like us.
Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s SitRep, where our levels of caffeine and pizza consumption this week are TS/SCI.
Here’s what’s on tap for the day: What we know so far about President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for the Department of Defense; a run-down of the leading (and rumored) contenders for the top national security jobs in the new administration; and the news that North Korea’s troops, well, they’re just like us.
Following a decisive victory on Tuesday, Trump will become commander in chief of the U.S. military for the second time when he is inaugurated on Jan. 20. With the next Senate under Republican control and the results for the House of Representatives—yet to be called—trending in that direction as well, Trump is likely to face few roadblocks in enacting his agenda once he returns to the White House.
During his first term in office, Trump created a U.S. Space Force and boosted defense spending (a trend that has continued under outgoing President Joe Biden). He overturned Obama-era rules that allowed transgender people to serve in the armed forces and slashed transparency efforts around civilian deaths in overseas drone strikes.
Trump also controversially blurred the lines in civil-military relations: promoting his political agenda while speaking to troops, appointing retired generals to top national security roles, and threatening to deploy the military domestically amid protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
Here’s what we know about Trump’s plans for the Pentagon during his second term in office.
Domestic Deployment? Trump has repeatedly spoken about using the U.S. military on domestic soil for a host of law enforcement purposes, including securing the southern border with Mexico, policing civil unrest, and even cracking down on crime in cities such as Chicago.
He has also spoken about deploying the National Guard or federal troops against his political opponents. “I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within,” Trump told Fox News in October. “We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they’re the—and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let........