Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan claimed that the Biden administration had leverage to get Americans out of Afghanistan after President Joe Biden’s arbitrary Aug. 31 deadline. “The leverage we have, the economic leverage, and the other forms of leverage we continue to possess, we believe will be effective in ensuring that we can get out other people who want to come out after the 31st of August.”

Sullivan’s remarks should set off alarm bells across Washington.