Hold Fast: National Security is Not Just War
Winning Wars Won’t Save a Nation That Undermines Itself
Military superiority, exemplified by infantry, aircraft carriers, stealth bombers and nuclear weapons deployed across physical battlefields against nation-state adversaries, is not the sole measure of national security. Necessary? Yes. Sufficient? No.
Today, threats rarely arrive as enemy armies at the border or aircraft overhead, or as bomb-wielding extremists. More often, they manifest themselves stealthily, within digital infrastructure, spreading disinformation, or exploiting political fault lines to disrupt the institutions that keep our republic functioning. Adversaries like Russia, China, and Iran are increasingly inserting themselves into this disruption campaign, with significant success. By launching sophisticated, low-cost disinformation campaigns aimed at inflating extreme views, exacerbating divides, and destabilizing elections, foreign powers are attempting to weaponize our open society against us.
These adversaries are well aware that a democracy relies on public consent, and above all, trust. If citizens begin to question the validity of its elections, the legitimacy of its political transitions or its institutions, domestic democratic norms become vulnerable. No military budget can offset the resulting instability.
Candidates who make or amplify claims that undermine that trust in the run-up to the midterm elections warrant careful scrutiny.
As public trust degrades, citizens retreat from civic participation. Warnings about emerging threats are met with skepticism and often outright hostility, and national cohesion can fracture. Foreign adversaries recognize this vulnerability and aggressively further exploit domestic divides to create chaos and paralysis.
This dangerous dynamic has been abetted in our own country by this administration’s constant and baseless attacks on the validity of election security and by undermining and politicizing federal government institutions. A particularly important and often overlooked institution is the once-independent career civil service: the non-partisan professionals across federal agencies who maintain operational continuity across political transitions. In his pursuit of authoritarian power, Donald Trump has degraded government competence from within, purging the civil service of independent Inspectors General, thoughtlessly executing mass workforce reductions, and politicizing personnel decisions that are now based on loyalty to one person rather than to the Constitution.
The administration should have been focusing on the most effective defense against foreign hostile influence operations, by building public trust through transparency, ethical governance, and institutional accountability. Crucial to our defense are defining democratic safeguards: ensuring voter registration and access, securing election infrastructure, and reinforcing peaceful transfers of power. Also crucial is an independent, non-partisan career civil service. Whether responding to pandemics, managing disaster relief, collecting and analyzing foreign intelligence, or safeguarding the food supply, experienced civil servants provide institutional memory and, most importantly, objective expertise.
Widening our lens as we think about national security does not mean diminishing the vital role of the Armed Forces. It means remembering that military power rests on the foundation of a healthy, cohesive society.
To secure America in the twenty-first century, policymakers must treat civic health, cyber-readiness, institutional competence, public trust, and free and fair elections as integral components of national defense.
As the midterm elections near, consider the following questions :
What are the candidate’s views about securing election infrastructure and protecting voter access?
Does the candidate acknowledge that foreign adversaries exploit political divisions to disrupt elections?
Does the candidate respect the importance of nonpartisan expertise of the career civil service?
Does the candidate back claims of election fraud with credible evidence?
Hold Fast. And Vote!
Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 450 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.
