Donald Trump And Russia: Leaked Defense Document Shows Terror, Cybersecurity Bigger Threat Than Moscow For New Administration

President-elect Donald Trump's administration does not consider Russia a top defense priority and instead is focused on other goals such as fighting terror, bolstering cybersecurity and eliminating budget caps, a Department of Defense memo leaked Tuesday by Foreign Policy magazine showed. Defense officials under the current administration have repeatedly called Russia the No. 1 threat to national security.

The document, dated Dec. 1, was written by Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Brian McKeon. He said in the transmission that the information had been communicated to him by Mira Ricardel, a President George W. Bush administration defense official and member of Trump's presidential transition team. It lists four points reportedly representing the incoming administration's greatest concerns. However, it does not mention Russia, which military officials have called "an existential threat" to the U.S. Moscow has also been accused of trying to influence the results of the U.S. presidential elections.

Trump's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin was a source of media speculation throughout the billionaire businessman-turned-politician's presidential campaign. Democratic candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton often criticized Russian foreign policy while Trump praised Russia and shared warm words with its leader. Since winning the election, Trump has pledged to reverse a low point in relations between the two nations that occurred under President Barack Obama's presidency and work with Moscow on global issues including the fight against terrorism.

Obama and Putin found themselves at odds on a number of major foreign policy issues, including conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. The Obama administration also witnessed a severe escalation in tensions between NATO and Russian forces this year, which both mounted one of the most massive European mobilizations since the Cold War. Trump has dismissed criticism of the Kremlin and referred to Russia as a partner in the war against the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, in Syria and Iraq. Russia has said Trump is more committed to fighting terror than Obama.

While officials from the incoming administration have not commented on Russia's ranking on Trump's list of defense concerns, they said the leaked document did not comprehensively describe the full range of issues the new administration would tackle.

"For the media to speculate that this list of issues represents all of the president-elect’s priorities is completely erroneous and misleading,” Jessica Ditto, a transition spokesperson, told Foreign Policy.

The list of the administration's priorities included: "1) Develop a strategy to defeat/destroy ISIS, 2) Build a strong defense [Eliminate caps from Budget Control Act; improve force strength/size/readiness], 3) Develop a comprehensive USG cyberstrategy, 4) Find greater efficiencies [pursue/build on 'great work' led by DSD Work; open to new ideas from the Department]."