National Security Strategy of the United States

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The National Security Strategy of the United States of America is a document prepared periodically by the executive branch of the government of the United States for congress which outlines the major national security concerns of the United States and how the administration plans to deal with them. The legal foundation for the document is spelled out in the Goldwater-Nichols Act(1). The document is purposely general in content (contrast with the National Military Strategy) and its implementation relies on elaborating guidance provided in supporting documents (including the NMS).

Contents

[edit] Previous National Security Strategies

The National Security Strategy issued on September 17, 2002 was released in the midst of controversy over the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war which is contained therein. It also contains the notion of military pre-eminence that was reflected in a Department of Defense paper of 1992, "Defense Policy Guidance", prepared by two principle authors (Paul Wolfowitz and I. Lewis Libby) working under then Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney. The NSS 2002 also repeats and re-emphasizes past initiatives aimed at providing substantial foreign aid to countries that are moving towards Western-style democracy, with the "ambitious and specific target" of "doubl[ing] the size of the world's poorest economies within a decade." [NSS 2002, p.21].

The Bush doctrine emerges in the context of moving from the old Cold War doctrine of deterrence to a pro-active attempt to adjust policy to the realities of the current situation where the threat is just as likely to come from a terrorist group such as al-Qaeda as from a nation state such as Iraq or Iran.[1]

The Cold War historian, John Lewis Gaddis, argued that the NSS 2002 "could be...the most important formulation of grand strategy in over half a century." In an article published in Foreign Policy Magazine in 2002, Gaddis notes that:

"It was sufficient, throughout the Cold War, to contain without seeking to reform authoritarian regimes: we left it to the Soviet Union to reform itself. The most important conclusion of the Bush NSS is that this Cold War assumption no longer holds. The intersection of radicalism with technology the world witnessed on that terrible morning means that the persistence of authoritarianism anywhere can breed resentments that can provoke terrorism that can do us grievous harm." [2]

The 2002 NSS was criticized by Noam Chomsky for allowing the United States the right to attack any country of choice, since the document only required an 'intent and ability' to develop weapons of mass destruction, which (as Chomsky notes) is 'in the eye of the beholder.' Henry Kissinger deemed the document 'revolutionary' because of this right to attack countries of choice. He added, however, that the right could not be a 'universal principle available to every nation.'[3]

The document also treats AIDS as a threat to national security, promising substantial efforts to combat its spread and devastating effects.

[edit] The current National Security Strategy

On March 16, 2006, the latest National Security Strategy was issued. It is a return to the more multilateral approach of previous administrations. It restates America's commitment to supporting democracies and defeating terrorism, puts forth a plan to restructure institutions related to national security, and discusses the challenges of globalization.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ See External Links reference to H.R. 282.
  2. ^ A Grand Strategy of Transformation
  3. ^ Noam Chomsky (2004). Hegemony or Survival. Metropolitan Books.

[edit] External links

[edit] In the media