U.S. Officials Are Falling Prey to Their Own Threat Inflation

Gates must be remarkably ignorant of recent world history to claim that the U.S. faces more crises than at any point since 1945.

Axios reports on—and joins in—the ongoing foreign policy elite freakout in D.C.:

Former Defense Secretary Bob Gates — who ran the Pentagon under presidents of both parties, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — tells us America is facing the most crises since World War II ended 78 years ago [bold mine-DL].

Gates must be remarkably ignorant of recent world history to claim that the U.S. faces more crises than at any point since 1945. There were times during the Cold War when the U.S. faced more significant overlapping crises, and every major international crisis was further complicated by the U.S.-Soviet rivalry. There were certainly many periods over the last seven decades when there were simultaneous conflicts going on around the globe that the U.S. joined or supported to some degree. There are always ongoing problems, but that doesn’t mean that every problem is a crisis. A crisis is usually when there is a major, disruptive event that has led to a conflict or has the potential to turn into one. The mere existence of an adversary doesn’t qualify. The emergence of a new technology is not a crisis in itself.

If we look at the list of “crises” in the report, we can see that Gates’ assessment is the result of panicked overreaction or a cynical attempt to stoke fear.