Washington Post: The United States is experiencing a shortage of experts from Russia

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Representatives of the US intelligence services and national security warn that the depth of understanding of Russia and the ability of the United States to collect information about this country leaves much to be desired, despite the high stakes in current conflicts.

About this newspaper Washington Post.

The publication indicates that experts, lawmakers and former administration officials say that if previously many experienced specialists from Russia worked in the national security structures, including at the highest levels of decision-making, now these departments are forced to rely on a less clear circle of less trained experts who lack the capacity to directly influence policy.

The result, they say, has been several missed opportunities to anticipate Moscow's recent moves in regions such as Ukraine and Syria, even though there were signs that would have suggested such predictions. “Every step has been a surprise,” said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain. “It was a surprise when they entered Crimea, it was a surprise when they entered Syria.”

According to the newspaper, the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, announced an “atrophy” of the level of expertise of the US government regarding Russia, which took place after the Cold War. According to him, this trend needs to be reversed.

“We need to redouble our efforts to take a fresh look at Russia,” the senator said.

Former US ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, notes that compared to the 15 situation years ago, the “shop” of government experts has decreased, and the quality of analysis for Eurasia has become “more superficial,” writes the Washington Post.

“Attempting to understand Russian foreign policy decision-making requires more, better, in-depth analysis, and that requires new investment and knowledge,” McFaul continues. “In the future, we will have disagreements with the Kremlin and the Russians on certain issues, but we cannot allow those disagreements to be based on mistakes and bad data.”

According to the newspaper, among the reasons, experts cite insufficient funding for teaching foreign languages ​​at universities, cuts in funding for cultural exchange programs with the former Soviet republics, and the recent emasculation of the grant program for research in Russia and its neighbors.

Experts also note that with the exception of a few figures, such as Celeste Wallander, Senior Director of the National Security Council for Russia and Eurasia, and Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, it is difficult to find people among high-ranking government officials who work with Russia. so poorly understand the country and its leaders, writes Washington Post.

“When senior administration officials go to Capitol Hill, they are expected to have the necessary expertise. The ugly secret is that our capabilities are terrible,” says Matthew Rozhansky, director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center. According to him, he had to give briefings on Belarus to an audience “in which none of the participants had been to Belarus.” He says that there are entire NATO structures where “there is not a single person capable of reading the Russian press.”

“Whatever criterion we choose to assess our abilities, almost always the result is that we simply don’t have them. They are weak and incomplete,” says Rozhansky.

Earlier, Forum wrote that American intelligence reported to on strengthening the power of the Russian fleet, putting it in third place in the world.