Strategic defense expert visits Helms School of Government

Liberty University’s Helms School of Government welcomed Rebeccah Heinrichs, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, to campus on Thursday to speak to students about national defense and strategic deterrence. Heinrichs’ visit was part of the Institute on Religion & Democracy and Providence Magazine campus outreach program, which aims to uplift historic Christian teaching about political theology.

Heinrichs currently serves as an adjunct professor at the Institute of World Politics. She previously served as an advisor to Congressman Trent Franks and played a large role in starting the Bipartisan Missile Defense Caucus. At the Hudson Institute, she specializes in U.S. national defense policy with a focus on strategic deterrence. Heinrichs is frequently published in leading political magazines and academic journals and provides analysis for TV news and radio programs.

Heinrichs addressed an Advanced Intelligence Analysis class before meeting with members of Liberty’s Alexander Hamilton Society.

In the class, she emphasized the importance of strategic deterrence, a term Heinrich defined as “credibly threatening in the mind of the adversary that we are going to do something painful to him if he does this thing we don’t want him to do.”

According to Heinrichs, it is necessary for the United States to convince an enemy that it will retaliate if it or one of its allies is offended, so it can properly deter that enemy. As in the case for nuclear weapons, she said America must stand firm in its intent to defend those in need and not waver or become intimidated when countries like Russia or China threaten it.

Because of this, Heinrichs argued that America should increase its nuclear stronghold instead of decreasing it. Heinrichs said that President George H.W. Bush divested nuclear weapons and in so doing negatively impacted the United States. She also stated that Russia currently has 10 times the number of short-range nuclear weapons as the U.S.

To counter potential arguments that the United States should not be trusted with more nuclear weapons and should work to end the nuclear arms race, Heinrichs noted that doing so would play into the enemy’s hand. In addition, because of the checks and balances inherent to the American government, she claimed the country is best equipped to maintain control of these weapons.

Heinrichs also stressed the importance of not underestimating the enemy, claiming those in other countries have very different definitions of strategy and logic.

“It’s deadly to just be so convinced that it’s so horrible, and even from their perspective it is irrational,” Heinrichs said. “Guess what? Vladimir Putin has a different set of racking and stacking priorities and values, he has a different risk tolerance, a different pain tolerance.”