No Groundwork, High Stakes: How the Trump-Putin Meeting Puts U.S. Security and Troops at Risk

What the Alaska Summit Means for Active Duty Troops and American Security

The upcoming meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska this Friday is set to take place without any preliminary framework or agreed baseline between both parties. This is more than just an oversight - it is an invitation for trouble. Summits with foreign adversaries are complex negotiations that require months of behind-the-scenes preparation. The purpose of this process is to ensure that heads of state are finalizing a deal and not improvising a new agreement. In this case, there is no ceasefire in place, no mutual recognition of Ukraine’s sovereignty, and no agreed upon principles for security guarantees or monitoring. Instead, the president will walk into a room and rely on his instincts against a counterpart who has built a career exploiting exactly these kinds of open-ended encounters. For Putin, the prospect of facing an American president with no roadmap and little support must feel like a dream.

Leaving the meeting’s substance undefined creates a vacuum that Put…