America must restore its military deterrence

“Don’t,” President Joe Biden replied when asked for his message to Iran during a press conference Friday afternoon, followed by a lamentable “showdown” glare. It was the second time he’d used the word in an attempt at dramatic understatement in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. Vice President Kamala Harris has also used the line in interviews with the same cringey effect. 

But as the world now knows, Iran is unmoved by these cheap, tough-guy theatrics. Indeed, it proceeded with a drone and missile strike against Israel the very next day, marking the first time since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 that the Iranian regime has launched a direct military assault on Israel. U.S. and U.K. planes intervened by downing some of the Iranian-launched drones, and the United Nations Security Council met on Sunday.

Iran’s unprecedented missile strike against Israel signals the beginning of a fraught geopolitical era in which America’s once-vaunted military deterrence has evaporated into thin air. Since the early months of Biden’s term in office, foreign adversaries have openly flouted the U.S.’s many warnings and “red lines,” while an emergent, China-led parallel global order has marched steadily forward in advancing its military priorities. American allies in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East face existential threats of a kind unseen in a generation, while the United States remains unable to muster the political will necessary to lead the free world and freedom’s enemies.

While these developments in the Middle East are stunning, they are anything but unforeseen — indeed, the Iranian regime telegraphed its strike against Israel for days. Under Biden, it has feared the U.S. so little that, through proxy forces Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, Iran launched the Oct. 7 attacks and then proceeded to attack American troops in Iraq and Syria.  

This is all the more embarrassing given the Biden administration’s efforts to revive the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, which amounted to little more than a series of bribes totaling in the billions and secret agreements in exchange for a halt to the nation’s development of its nuclear program — for only 10 years. Doubtless, the fungible money Iran received in the deal was used to kill Israelis and Americans.

Put simply, Iran shook our hand, took our money, and then proceeded to slap us around without facing a single consequence. 

Russia and China, too, have laughed in the face of American military deterrence in the Biden era. Russian President Vladimir Putin wasted little time upending Europe once Biden took office by invading neighboring Ukraine despite Biden’s promise of a “decisive response.” And despite sustaining heavy losses following more than two years of conflict, Russia appears poised to win a decisive victory in Ukraine. 

China has become increasingly bold on the world stage. The communist nation has built up its military at a staggering rate in the past few years. According to U.S. Navy Adm. John Aquilino, these efforts are unprecedented in the post-WWII era and put China on track to invade key U.S. ally Taiwan by 2027. Biden has also issued warnings to Beijing, saying that U.S. armed forces would be used to repel a Chinese invasion. Unsurprisingly, Beijing shows no sign of being intimidated. 

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Without question, the key foreign policy priority of the next presidential administration must be to restore American military deterrence. If America is to remain a global superpower throughout the 21st century and beyond, significant political capital must be expended to strengthen our military capabilities. 

The American-led, postwar global order is crumbling in front of our eyes. Military deterrence must be restored in the near future. If not, the new authoritarian axis will sweep it away into the dustbin of history.

Peter Laffin is a contributor at the Washington Examiner. His work has also appeared in RealClearPolitics, the Catholic Thing, and the National Catholic Register.