Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink has criticized President Donald Trump’s administration for disregarding experienced professionals and lacking a strategic approach in its policy toward Ukraine and Russia.
According to Ukrinform, Brink shared these views during The David Frum Show, a podcast by The Atlantic.
Drawing on her experience within the Trump administration, Brink said she was not given the opportunity to offer recommendations that contradicted the president’s viewpoint — something she described as a core function of the bureaucracy.
“That’s highly problematic. I can tell you many times during the Biden administration, I am sure I annoyed or aggravated people because I was so persistent, but I felt it was my duty and my job in my views,” Brink said.
She also called it a mistake not to rely on people with expertise in the area.
“Putin has a larger strategic plan, which is very dangerous to the United States, and we ignore that plan at our peril. And although he operates tactically, so he can be defeated. But I think it requires a very thoughtful, strategic, coordinated approach, and that’s something that in the second Trump administration, my challenge had been getting advice to the right person, because there are a number of different people who are working on Ukraine and on Russia policy,” she said.
Brink also pointed to the chaos of the policy process in Washington as another major issue, saying it undermines a coherent deterrence policy toward Russia and fails to send the right signal to China.
“I think it’s a different administration, and it’s a threat to our future, and that’s why I’ve come out. That’s why I left,” she said.
Source: Brink slams Trump administration for lack of strategic approach toward Russia, Ukraine
