Basic notion of democratic reforms a national security issue in US: WH

The basic notion of democratic reforms and voting rights in the US is a national security issue, Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has said.

His remarks came on Monday ahead of the maiden foreign trip of President Joe Biden to the United Kingdom, Brussels and Geneva. The president's leave for the UK on Wednesday to attend the G-7 summit.

"We are in a competition of models with autocracies, and we are trying to show the world that American democracy and democracy writ large can work can effectively deliver the will of the people," Sullivan told reporters at the White House.

"To the extent that we are not updating, refurbishing, revamping our own democratic processes and procedures to meet the needs of the modern moment, then we are not going to be as successful in making that case to the rest of the world, to China, to Russia, or to anyone else," he said.

So, there is a national security dimension to this today, just as there was through the decades of the Cold War, he said responding to a question from reporters. The basic notion of democratic reform and voting rights in the United States is a national security issue, Sullivan said.

The US, he said, is showing that it is capable of turning the corner on the Covid pandemic.

This shows that the United States is capable of making the dramatic investments that will pull us up and help power global growth, showing the world that it is ultimately capable of making the investments in research and development and infrastructure, innovation and workforce, Sullivan said

"That's what he's (Biden) going to try to demonstrate. And he at the outset, feels he goes into this, from a position of strength, because of the record he's built up over the course of the first four months," he said.

"All I can say is the bottom line principle, not a specific question about the vehicle or the time-frame, but rather the fundamental principle, which is that a strong, vibrant American democracy that protects voting rights is the best way for us to make the case to the world that our model, and not some other model, is the right model to actually vindicate the will of the people here in the United States, and for other democracies to be able to do the same," Sullivan said in response to another question.