As Eric Edelman, the former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, puts it: “Every time it seems things can’t get worse in Turkey, I always say, just wait.”

As ISIS goes down to military defeat, the United States requires a longer-range plan and an enduring force presence to deny Iran total victory in Syria. Otherwise, the United States risks losing influence as a new Middle Eastern order is being forged.

Eric Edelman, former ambassador to Turkey, tells me, “The Palestinian-Israeli conflict deserves to be settled — on its own terms.” He continues, “For years the conventional wisdom was that the key to resolving the conflicts of and providing security in the Middle East was an Arab-Israeli peace deal. It was never true.” However, “to put it back at the center of things now, when the strategic circumstances and conflicts in the region are in so much turmoil and so clearly disconnected from anything to do with the occupied territories, is really surprising and also a little disheartening,” he observes.

Evaluate the prospects for the Trump Administration’s goal of rebuilding the military.

Fox News’ National Security correspondent Jennifer Griffin led a panel with Marilyn Hewson, the chairman, president and CEO of Lockheed Martin, Dr. Kathleen Hicks, the Senior Vice President; Henry A. Kissinger Chair; Director, International Security Program, Gen. Robert Neller, Commandant of the Marine Corps., Hon. Eric Edelman, the former Under Secretary of Defense (Policy) and former Ambassador to Turkey and Finland and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen D-NH.

Trump truthfully argues he was dealt a bad hand on North Korea. “North Korea is one of the most difficult national security problems. In all honesty, no administration dating back to Bush 41 has handled it particularly well,” said Eric Edelman, former ambassador to Turkey and a veteran State Department official. “Having said all that, it is a very dangerous situation that requires persistent alliance management, clear objectives and follow-through, not overheated rhetoric from the commander in chief, constantly shifting red lines, taunting tweets, and meaningless bravado that undercuts deterrence and the credibility of our alliance commitments.” In other words, Trump is arguably making a bad situation much worse.