Scowcrofts "realism" is a bit out of date.
In the old days it was "realistic" to assume that countries run by bad people were too far away from the US to do any damage, and the USSR could be deterred by Mutually Assured Destruction.
Today, evan quite small countries run by bad people, indeed small groups of individuals, have the capability to do the USA great harm, and they are not necessarilly deterred by MAD.
It is no good ignoring people and countries with "bad intent" anymore.
They can and will do great harm if left unchecked.
That's a good point. In a sense, every country is now our neighbor. We are effected by what their people buy, how their governments behave and how well those societies function as a whole.