Moscow is 275 miles from Ukraine, for example. But such an allowance would enable Ukraine to complicate Russian logistics trains supporting the conflict, force greater friction upon Russian command and control, and strike hardened targets of opportunity. Put simply, it would allow Ukraine to better defend itself.

It’s no surprise that Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t want that to happen.

Yet, contrary to Putin’s assertion on Friday that allowing Ukraine to use these weapons would mean NATO declaring war on Russia, the reality is that Putin cannot afford war with NATO. He would lose badly. So also is nuclear escalation extraordinarily unlikely. First, any Russian use of tactical nuclear weapons would likely destroy Russia’s critical economic relationship with China (Chinese leader Xi Jinping has said China will not tolerate any use of nuclear weapons in the conflict). Second, Russia would very badly lose a nuclear war with NATO. The Russian general staff knows this.

This matters as President Joe Biden considers whether to allow Ukraine to use ATACMS inside Russia and offer his support for the U.K. and France to do the same with Storm Shadow/Scalp. Biden recognizes that Russia has launched an unprovoked war on a sovereign democracy in Europe. He recognizes that Russia is now employing Iranian ballistic missiles to bolster its machinery of death. Unfortunately, Biden is not coming under enough pressure to approve Ukraine’s use of these weapons inside Russia quickly.

Part of the problem is that many in the media and the think-tank community worship the supposed brilliance of applying a patient and deliberative process to national security decision-making. But while there is obvious merit in making sure that decisions are made with a strong foundation of analysis and intellectual rigor, these ingredients alone are insufficient to effective leadership. National security leadership also requires an ability to make decisions quickly and decisively.

Biden’s National Security Council doesn’t get this. Instead, it revels in its laboriously patient, deliberative decision-making process. Led by national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Biden’s NSC is a place where good ideas are forced to navigate a purgatory of bureaucracy, overanalysis, and risk aversion. When good ideas are eventually approved, it’s very rarely without significant caveats and the dilution of their best elements.

That brings us back to the Ukraine weapons concern. The U.K. has long sought to allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia. Putin knows the U.K. is more hawkish in its support for Ukraine than the U.S., hence why he expelled a number of British diplomats/spies on Friday. He wants to pressure Biden against following in Britain’s footsteps. But to deter Russia from dividing NATO or taking punitive action in response to its own weapons provision, the U.K. also wants U.S. support for doing so.

But the Biden administration is divided. CIA Director Bill Burns, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are all in favor of granting Ukraine this bolstered means of action. But Jake Sullivan and Biden have been opposed to doing so. Indeed, Sullivan and others, such as national security spokesman John Kirby, often made absurd claims that there would be little military utility to allowing Ukraine to use these weapons inside Russia.

A good example came in April 2022 when Sullivan asserted that the U.S. couldn’t provide anti-ship weapons to Ukraine because it didn’t have any that would work for Ukraine. This was untrue. When the U.K. then gave Ukraine anti-ship capabilities, Ukraine repeatedly smashed Russia’s Black Sea fleet, forcing its relocation out of Crimea.

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The Black Sea aside, it’s time for Biden to reach a decision. Dithering on the Delaware beach makes him look feeble and America look weak. Putin is taking advantage of that weakness to further wave his nuclear brinkmanship sword and exploit Ukraine’s limited ability to defend itself.

Russia started this war, and Ukraine deserves the means of striking those rear-echelon Russian forces that are trying to end its sovereign existence.