Patrick W. Quirk The Biden administration’s initial foreign policy priorities are coming into focus: combating climate change, competing with China, and reversing the spread of authoritarianism, all through the prism of U.S. domestic renewal. As the White House puts pen to paper on its first National Security Strategy (NSS), these themes will feature prominently. But so too will other less prominent but still critical issues. Top among them should be state fragility and associated threats to U.S. interests. As Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during his confirmation hearing: “The risks that continue to be posed from fragile states” are “very much” on President Joe Biden’s mind. The United States must therefore “do what we can” to help strengthen fragile states and prevent them from becoming “failed states.”