Shopping List Foreign Policy

At least Game 7 of the National League Championship Series was a blowout. But if you chose to watch tonight's debate instead of baseball — hoping, like many of us, for clarity on the next four years of American foreign policy — you were sorely disappointed.

What did we hear? Not a lot. Not a single mention of looming cyber threats, despite the fact that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta recently sounded an alarm about America's vulnerability to a possible "cyber Pearl Harbor." No mention of Yemen and the growing influence of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which many consider the most significant terrorist threat in the world. Nor was there any discussion of Guantánamo or the future of American detention operations, leaving major questions unanswered about how the United States would handle captured terrorists in the future.

How would each candidate face the considerable challenges of the Afghanistan transition — like propping up the Afghan security forces, trying to negotiate a settlement with the Taliban, or forestalling a full-scale civil war after American and NATO forces depart? Apparently, it's not a concern. For Mr. Romney, it was simple as saying the Afghans "will be ready by the end of 2014." Full stop. While President Obama acknowledged in passing that the transition in Afghanistan "has to take place in a responsible fashion," he quickly changed course and began talking about veterans and jobs in America. Both are critical issues, to be sure. But neither is particularly helpful for those wondering if thousands of American lives lost and billions of dollars spent in Afghanistan will be wasted by a poorly executed transition.

Those concerned with the future of American engagement in the Middle East were likewise frustrated. Regarding the ongoing threat of extremism in the Arab World, Mr. Romney simply suggested a shopping list of grand objectives: economic development, better education, gender equality, and rule of law — a plan that sounds an awful lot like nation building. What remained entirely unclear is how Mr. Romney would actually make progress on any of these fronts, particularly in countries of critical concern. Meanwhile, Mr. Obama pointed out that we "cannot just meet these challenges militarily" and quickly mentioned religious minorities and women and encouraging economic development before neatly sidestepping to "nation building here at home."

Ultimately, tonight's debate didn't change many (any?) voters' opinions about either candidate. And it left national security wonks I know banging their heads against the table, still wondering how the election will affect America's foreign policies in the years ahead. But at least we're now certain the military has fewer bayonets than it did in 1916.

Marisa L. Porges, a former counterterrorism adviser in the Departments of Defense and Treasury, is a fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School.