Rubio Must Fix US Foreign Policy Planning

The October 7 Attacks show that there is a clear and present need for the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to re-evaluate the policy guidance for the unclassified strategic plans of the diplomatic missions, functional bureaus, and geographic bureaus of the US Department of State.
The Biden Administration had a total of 472 days in which to revise any and all relevant Functional Bureau Strategies, Joint Regional Strategies, and Integrated Country Strategies. However, it generally failed to do so. Consider the following examples:
Function Bureau Strategies
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- The Functional Bureau Strategy for the Bureau of Counterterrorism was approved for release on 17 February 2022. No revision was made following the attacks.
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Joint Regional Strategies
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- The Joint Regional Strategy for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs was approved for release on 4 February 2022. No revision was made following the attacks.
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Integrated Country Strategies – Core Zone
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- The Integrated Country Strategy for Israel was approved for release on 3 May 2022. No revision was made following the attacks.
- The Integrated Country Strategy for the Office of Palestinian Affairs was approved for release on 22 June 2022. It was revised once after the attacks.
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Integrated Country Strategies – Shared Border
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- The Integrated Country Strategy for Egypt was approved for release on 14 April 2022. No revision was made following the attacks.
- The Integrated Country Strategy for Jordan was approved for release on 30 March 2022. One revision was made before the attacks. No revision was made following the attacks.
- The Integrated Country Strategy for Lebanon was approved for release on 29 April 2022. It was revised one before the attacks. It was also revised once after the attacks.
- The Integrated Country Strategy for Syria was only approved for release on 27 June 2024.
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Integrated Country Strategies – Near Neighborhood
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- The Integrated Country Strategy for Cyprus was approved for release on 21 April 2022. No revision was made following the attacks.
- The Integrated Country Strategy for Iraq was approved for release on 16 March 2022. It was revised once before the attacks. No revision was made following the attacks.
- The Integrated Country Strategy for Saudi Arabia was approved for release on 11 July 2022. No revision was made following the attacks.
- The Integrated Country Strategy for Turkey was approved for release on 13 May 2022. No revision was made following the attacks.
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These findings should deeply concern the Trump Administration, 119th United States Congress, and American public.
It is clear that the October 7 Attacks counted as an extraordinary event that resulted in “substantial changes in policy and/or bilateral relations” with Israel and surrounding countries. That should have triggered relevant US diplomatic missions to revise their strategic plans. Both branches should be asking why that didn’t happen.