What US should do next on national security

The US Congress just passed — and Biden signed — a major national security bill. The bill has four main provisions:

1. US$61 billion for aid to Ukraine (including $13 billion to re-stock US military supplies that were previously donated)
2. $26 billion for Israel and Gaza(including $9 billion for humanitarian aid to the Gazans and others)
3. $8 billion for aid to Taiwanand other Indo-Pacific allies
4. A measure to force the Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok or else shut down operations within 270 days

I’m actually pretty surprised this bill passed, for two reasons. First, Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, had stalled Ukraine aid for quite some time, under pressure from the MAGA movement.

Second, the Senate looked like it was going to stall the passage of TikTok divestment. But suddenly, both obstacles seemed to evaporate, and the bill passed. The most likely reason, from what I can tell, is that Congressional leaders saw intelligence briefings that made them realize that A.) TikTok is definitely acting as both propaganda and spyware for the CCP, and B.) Putin’s territorial ambitions in Europe go well beyond Ukraine.

Although I don’t agree with absolutely everything in this bill, the fact that it passed is a very good sign. It means that our leaders are, slowly and reluctantly, waking up to the magnitude of the overseas threat that America and its allies face.

The Ukraine aid shows that although Russian propaganda has subverted much of the MAGA movement, there is still a bipartisan majority that is willing to stand up to Putin.

The Taiwan aid, though far too small for my liking, shows that the US is starting to realize the danger of an Asian war. And even though it will certainly be challenged in court, the TikTok