Rebecca Skoryanc, Author at WestExec Advisors

Julie Smith quoted in Der Spiegel article, “How Trump Is Fueling a Corona Disaster”

"'Trump has systematically bled the government dry,' says Julianne Smith, who served as deputy national security adviser to Joe Biden when he was vice president. Trump has failed to fill many important positions in the government or he has dissolved them altogether. In one particularly disastrous move, he abolished the pandemic task force in the National Security Council that President Barack Obama set up after the Ebola outbreak in West Africa..." Read the full article here: Full Article

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-17T16:10:00-04:00April 11, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense, Geopolitical Perspectives|

Bob Work quoted in the National Interest article, “Recent Wargames Show That America’s Military Dominance Over Russia and China Has Ended”

"American forces' over-reliance on large, vulnerable installations and big ships renders moot the high-tech qualities of the stealth aircraft that fly from the bases and the ships, said Robert Work, a former deputy defense secretary who also sat on the CNAS panel. "'In every case I know of, the F-35 rules the sky when it’s in the sky, but it gets killed on the ground in large numbers,' Work said, according to Freedberg... "Work said the Pentagon could free up the [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-17T16:06:13-04:00April 10, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Michèle Flournoy quoted in Bloomberg article, “For the Next Pandemic, Run the Trump Playbook in Reverse”

"There can only be one person in charge. And that person shouldn’t be the president. Yes, have a task force, but it should only consist of leaders with genuine expertise — in infectious diseases, logistics, manufacturing, communication and so on. The person in change needs to be an expert in managing disasters. 'You could take a senior person in industry or a retired military officer and say, "Here’s a chance to serve your country for a limited period of time,"' said [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-17T16:05:07-04:00April 10, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Michael Camilleri writes with Michael Shifter in The New York Times: “It’s Not the Time for War Games With Venezuela”

"With last week’s significant deployment of United States naval assets in the Caribbean, the Trump administration upped the ante in its confrontation with the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. For the past 15 months, the administration has applied 'maximum pressure' on Mr. Maduro’s regime, with the hope that the upper echelons of the military — the regime’s main pillar of support — would fracture and trigger a return to democracy. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-14T13:15:40-04:00April 10, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense, Geopolitical Perspectives|

Dennis Ross writes in New York Daily News: “Coronavirus Proves America First Is the Wrong Answer to Today’s Global Challenges”

"COVID-19 does not respect the powerful, the wealthy or borders. It attacks every country and every individual. No one is immune or has immunity until they have been afflicted with it. On the one hand, we are reminded that humanity is the target and 'we are all in this together.' On the other, individuals or nations can choose to hoard, protecting themselves first. Both realities exist today. "It will take time to emerge from this crisis, especially because we will likely [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-14T13:14:27-04:00April 9, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense, Geopolitical Perspectives|

Michèle Flournoy and Lisa Monaco write in POLITICO: “Now’s Not the Time for Isolationism”

"The coronavirus is a public health tragedy. If the United States isn’t careful, it could turn into a geopolitical one, too. "How the U.S. manages—or mismanages—the coronavirus pandemic will determine not only the long-term resilience of our economy but also our ability to compete, lead and protect American interests globally. If the United States continues to turn inward and focus most efforts on only limiting the damage done at home, the perception that U.S. power is in decline will continue to [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-13T12:22:49-04:00April 8, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Michèle Flournoy participates in Bloomberg New Economy Forum, “A New World: Post-Coronavirus Power Shifts”

Michèle Flournoy, Professor Joseph Nye, Professor Jason Furman, and Andy Browne discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the global balance of power and what it will take to restore international cooperation... Read the full article here: Full Article

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-14T13:22:36-04:00April 7, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense, Geopolitical Perspectives|

Dennis Ross writes with David Makovsky in Foreign Policy: “Benny Gantz Did the Right Thing by Putting His Country First”

"Israel will very likely have a new government soon. Benny Gantz made this possible by agreeing on March 26 to form a national unity government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Gantz’s critics have savaged him for doing so. They are outraged because, after the election, Gantz was in a relatively strong position. Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc had 58 seats, but the anti-Netanyahu bloc had 62—including 15 seats from the largely Arab Joint List. The Joint List’s leader, Ayman Odeh, made clear the [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-14T13:16:50-04:00April 7, 2020|Geopolitical Perspectives|

Meghan O’Sullivan writes in Bloomberg: “Oil Markets Provide a Glimpse of the Post-Pandemic Future”

"Henry Kissinger warns that many existing domestic and international institutions that have helped govern the past decades will not survive the Covid-19 crisis. He is surely correct. "Which institutions will endure, and what will replace those that meet their demise? Will, as Kissinger describes it, the revival of the 'walled city' prevail? Or will the seriousness of this moment catalyze the global cooperation that has been in such short supply to make globalization more resilient in the face of future threats? [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-14T13:21:06-04:00April 7, 2020|Economy & Trade|

Julie Smith quoted in The New York Times article, “The Coronavirus Inflicts Its Own Kind of Terror”

"There is a similar sense of helplessness, however, said Julianne Smith, a former security adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and now at the German Marshall Fund. 'You don’t know when terrorism or the pandemic will strike, so it invades your personal life. With terror, you worry about being in crowds and rallies and sporting events. It’s the same with the virus — crowds spell danger...' "Unlike Sept. 11, 'when a single set of events united the country in [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-14T13:24:58-04:00April 6, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense, Geopolitical Perspectives|

About Rebecca Skoryanc