WASHINGTON (July 19, 2024) – The Republican National Convention wrapped up this week and former President Donald Trump officially accepted the party’s presidential nomination. This week, Trump also selected Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate. Meanwhile, the Democratic National Convention is still a couple weeks away and President Joe Biden continues to face calls to step down.
As we move through this election cycle, a number of key voter issues have emerged over the past several weeks. A national security expert at the George Washington University shares his thoughts on some of the most pressing national security challenges the next U.S. president will have to face.
Thom Shanker is the director of the Project for Media & National Security at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs. He was named director after a nearly quarter-century career with The New York Times, including 13 years as Pentagon correspondent covering the Department of Defense, overseas combat operations and national security policy. Before joining The Times, he was foreign editor of The Chicago Tribune. He spent five years as The Tribune's Moscow correspondent, covering the start of the Gorbachev era to the death of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the communist empire in Eastern Europe.
Shanker says, “I think the challenge this election year is that this is truly the most dangerous time in American history, bar none. There will be soon be not one, but two nuclear superpowers that could destroy us: Russia and China. There’s a whole rise of other threats that weren’t national security threats before but are now: global health, think of the pandemic; data security; cybersecurity; and climate security is national security in a way that’s never been dealt with before. These are the challenges facing the next president.”
WATCH: Shanker shares his expectations on the national security policies he expects to see if Biden or Trump win a second term, given that both candidates have already served in office. Find more of his insight in this video here.
If you would like to speak with Shanker, please contact GW Senior Media Relations Specialist Cate Douglass at [email protected].
-GW-
