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| H.R. McMaster |
Retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who served as national security adviser to former President Donald Trump, cautioned in an interview on Thursday that the United States, the United Kingdom, and other nations stand at the brink of World War III, the New York Post reported.
McMaster, 61, said Washington and London should increase defense spending to 4% of gross domestic product to defense, double the current NATO requirement. He suggested investing in missile defense systems akin to Israel's Iron Dome to address escalating crises.
"We could be on the cusp of another World War," McMaster told LBC Radio's Andrew Marr. "I know that sounds dramatic, but I think we have to take it seriously so we can prevent that from happening.
"The Iron Dome capabilities are important, but to defeat the hypersonic missiles, what's most important is to be able to defeat them while they're still in the boost phase or to preempt their launch," McMaster added. And that's a number of surveillance capabilities, but also for position capabilities."
The former adviser stressed that the proposed increase in defense spending would still be historically low compared to Cold War levels, emphasizing the importance of prevention over confrontation.
"It's a heck of a lot cheaper to prevent a war than to have to fight," McMaster said.
"What we've seen is we have a huge gap in our defense, industrial base, and in the capacity of all of our services, as well as suffering from a bow wave of deferred modernization."
Regarding Trump's potential return to office, McMaster affirmed his support for policies promoting burden-sharing among NATO allies and backing nations like Ukraine in the face of aggression.
"We know for sure Trump will demand burden sharing and reciprocity, but I think Europe is on board with that now," he said. "He was right about that, wasn't he?"
However, McMaster criticized Trump's approach to dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin, labeling the former president's attempts at negotiation as naive.
"Putin is not interested in a deal," McMaster said. "Putin wants to drag everybody else down, under the theory that he can be the last man standing and he can restore ... the Russian Empire."
In response to suggestions for enhancing missile defense capabilities, McMaster endorsed the need for each nation to develop similar systems, emphasizing the significance of defenses against long-range and hypersonic missiles.
"... And maybe Ronald Reagan had it right with Star Wars, with space-based capabilities as well," he added.
Meanwhile, during a congressional hearing on Wednesday, John Plumb, assistant secretary of defense for space policy, disclosed that Russia is in the process of developing a nuclear anti-satellite capability.
"This capability could pose a threat to all satellites operated by countries and companies around the globe, as well as to the vital communications, scientific, meteorological, agricultural, commercial, and national security services we all depend upon," Plumb said.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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