Michael Chertoff: Russia is not a long-term strategic rival for the US

February 15, 2022

Michael Chertoff: Russia Is Not a Long-Term Strategic Rival for the US | GZERO World

Even as tensions build in Ukraine, Russia is not a long-term strategic rival for the United States. That’s according to former US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who spoke to GZERO World last September. “The danger with Russia in the short-term is recklessness in the neighborhood,” he said. But even though Moscow may not be the same sort of adversary it was during the Cold War, Chertoff sees big challenges for Washington, especially in cybersecurity and hybrid warfare. “The real danger comes when the red lines are murky or fuzzy,” he added.

Watch all of Chertoff's interview on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: Is America safer since 9/11?

From Your Site Articles

What We’re Watching: Air Crash in India, Time running out for Iran nuclear deal, ICE protests move beyond LA, anti-immigration violence in Northern Ireland

Air India Flight AI171 crashed into the hostel canteen of the B.J. Medical College (BJMC), a well-known medical college in Ahmedabad, India, on June 12, 2025, while students were having lunch inside. Casualties in the building is not known.

West Asia News Agency, Majid Asgaripour/WANA via REUTERS

Michael Chertoff: Russia is not a long-term strategic rival for the US

GZEROMEDIA

More from GZERO Media

Graphic Truth: Which NATO members meet the mark?

NATO has long had an informal requirement that its members spend 2% of GDP on defense. However, despite decades of urging by successive US presidents, many member states have consistently fallen short of that target.

Hard Numbers: Newsom goes national, CDC reinstates DOGE’d employees, & More

Carney pledges massive military spending: What’s it for?

Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged this week to increase Canada’s military budget to meet NATO’s target this year. It’s not year clear where the money will go.

What We’re Watching: Canada-US deal takes shape, G7 kicks off in Kananaskis, Wildfires rage

Canadian and US officials are reportedly approaching at least the framework of a deal covering trade and other issues.

Is Serbia pivoting towards Ukraine?

In this episode of Europe in :60, Carl Bildt breaks down Serbia’s evolving foreign policy, and political developments in Poland.

GZEROMEDIA

What We’re Watching: Air Crash in India, Time running out for Iran nuclear deal, ICE protests move beyond LA, anti-immigration violence in Northern Ireland

The US on Wednesday evacuated nonessential diplomatic and military personnel from Baghdad and several military bases in the region.

Graphic Truth: National Institutes for Health funding in peril

The Trump administration wants to slash the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the US’ main medical research institution, by 40% for the next fiscal year.

HARD NUMBERS: Flooding in South Africa, one lucky Canadian & More

Flooding in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, the result of snow and heavy rain, has left at least 49 people dead, including several people on a school bus that was swept away by the waters.

You had to be there: How our memories shape our politics

An increasingly small proportion of each country’s population was alive during some of the most seminal moments in 20th-century history, altering the worldviews of today’s electorates.

8 thoughts on Trump’s Los Angeles crackdown

On Saturday, US President Donald Trump activated 2,000 members of the California National Guard to quell protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation efforts in Los Angeles, after small but highly visible demonstrations had popped up across the city in the days prior.

Michael Chertoff: Russia is not a long-term strategic rival for the US

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

More from GZERO Media

NATO has long had an informal requirement that its members spend 2% of GDP on defense. However, despite decades of urging by successive US presidents, many member states have consistently fallen short of that target.

Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged this week to increase Canada’s military budget to meet NATO’s target this year. It’s not year clear where the money will go.

Canadian and US officials are reportedly approaching at least the framework of a deal covering trade and other issues.

In this episode of Europe in :60, Carl Bildt breaks down Serbia’s evolving foreign policy, and political developments in Poland.

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

The US on Wednesday evacuated nonessential diplomatic and military personnel from Baghdad and several military bases in the region.

The Trump administration wants to slash the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the US’ main medical research institution, by 40% for the next fiscal year.

Flooding in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, the result of snow and heavy rain, has left at least 49 people dead, including several people on a school bus that was swept away by the waters.

An increasingly small proportion of each country’s population was alive during some of the most seminal moments in 20th-century history, altering the worldviews of today’s electorates.

On Saturday, US President Donald Trump activated 2,000 members of the California National Guard to quell protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation efforts in Los Angeles, after small but highly visible demonstrations had popped up across the city in the days prior.