US Isolationism Greater Security Threat Than Budget Cuts: Former NATO Commander

The greatest threat to the United States' national security is not the decline in the size of military forces or the budget, but withdrawal and isolationism from the rest of the world, Admiral James Stavridis, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told RIA Novosti.

"The biggest threat to the United States is isolationism, frustration with the world that causes us to withdraw," Admiral Stavridis told RIA Novosti on Tuesday at a Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on maritime security with US Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Jonathan Greenert.