US National Security Strategy & Policy:
An Introduction to the Theory & Practice
of Grand Strategy & the Elements of US
Nat'l Security Policy
Masaryk University
Fall 2009
Dave McCuan
This Week's Agenda: Theoretical Dimensions
of Nat'l Security & Nat'l Interests
* What is "National Security?" What are its "component
parts" or "elements?"
* Morgenthau, on the two US "Mainstays" of USFP & Nat'l
Security Policies ­ `Nat'l Interests & `Moral Abstractions'
* Bush II vs. Obama Strategies & `Worldview'
* Concerns for:
­ Strategic Constants & Norms / IR Theory
­ Instruments/Elements of National Power
­ The Limits of Military Power
­ Strategy as a Concept & Process
­ Defining American "National Interests"
* Recent US Nat'l Security Strategies (NSS) 2008, 2009
What is "National Security?"
What are its components?
How wide-ranging is the term,
"national security?"
Concepts for Nat'l Security Policy Analysis
National Security Policy Precedents
National Security Policy -Making
"National Interests"
"Vital Interests"
Role of Domestic Politics
Policy Legitimacy
National Power
Threats &
Constraints
A "Grand Strategy?"
National Security Policy Our
`Working Definition
"The pattern of government decisions & actions intended to
counter perceived threats to America's national interests,
and especially America's vital interests."
From which we develop these KEY QUESTIONS for our
subject material:
1. What are America's "national interests?
2. What are America's "vital interests?"
3. Who determines American "national interests?" "Vital
interests?"
A. Who and what
threatens those
interests?
B. How do we determine
threats?
C. What actions should
we take to protect
those interests?
D. Who determines
priorities?
Key Questions for the Course
Let's Define National Security Policy (NSP)
NSP: Pattern of government decisions & actions intended
to counter perceived threats to America's national
interests
Policy =  time  players  decisions, laws, rules, actions
What matters here? History of PM! Meanings:
Prior decisions / practices
Prior actions / inactions
Prior events / reactions
Past lessons learned
National Interests (NI)
Things deemed important for national wellbeing,
prosperity, continuity, & for NI:
Economic interests
Access to markets
Political interests
Countries with
Shared interests
& values
Political Values
Democracy
Human rights
Vital Interests (VI)
Variables & conditions deemed essential for
national well-being prosperity continuity
Things on which our national survival
depends
What are you willing go sacrifice lives for?
What are decision-makers desiring to protect?
External Focus
Foreign threats
Internal Focus
Education
Poverty
Environment
US / America's Vital Interests
American territorial integrity
Stable and friendly Canada & Mexico
Preservation of American political and economic
institutions
Safety of Americana at home and abroad
Strong & Prosperous European free market
democracies
What else?
Other variables / areas / topics to include?
What's missing?
Generic Threats
Countries
Soviet Union
China
The "axis of evil"
Events
War
Political & Economic
instability
Disasters
What else?
Technology
WMD
Terrorism
Other threats?
Specific Threats - Setting Priorities
Iraqi atomic bomb vs. Pakistani atomic bomb
Nuclear missiles vs. terrorism
Collapse of Russian economy & fledgling democracy vs.
Collapse if Latin American economies & democracies
How do we decide?
Other `specific threats?'
Part II
Requirements for Grand Strategy
1. REQ1: Strategic Environment
2. REQ2: Means of Power & Projection (Roles for
Deterrence & Coercion)
3. REQ3: Elements of National Power
Requirement #1
* The Strategic Environment
­ Objective 1. Describe the various
characteristics that make up the strategic
environment for the US.
­ Objective 2. Explain International Relations
(IR) theory & relate it to our understanding of
important security issues that shape strategy.
Strategic Constants & Norms
* Physical Environment
* National Character
* Relationship between war & state
* Balance of power mechanism
* Geopolitical situation / geopolitics
* Other variables?
Strategic Constants & Norms
(Strategic Characteristics)
* Physical Environment:
­ Traditional elements: land forms, terrain, ocean & seas,
climate
­ Spatial elements: natural resources, lines of
communication
­ Political, economic, & social makeup of a nation results
in part from physical environment
­ Location of international borders (land-locked vs.
island nation vs. proximity to external presssures)
Strategic Constants & Norms
(Strategic Characteristics)
* National Character:
­ Character derived from: location, language, culture,
religion, societal politics, historical circumstances
­ Always evolving
­ Psychological profile" of each nation or political group
involved in the conflict:
* Enemies
* Allies
* Potential enemies & allies
* One's own nation
Strategic Constants & Norms
(Strategic Characteristics)
* The Relationship between War & the State:
­ A state will almost always become involved
­ States are normally replaced by other states or groups
­ Generally, a state is remarkably tough & enduring
* Context of the state system(s)
* No political entity is permanent
Strategic Constants & Norms
(Strategic Characteristics)
* The Balance of Power Mechanism:
­ "status quo" in the distribution of power
­ no one dominant entity or group of entities
­ more than one political power center
­ Breaks down if:
* One or more of the participants rebel
* A power vacuum occurs
* Geopolitical situation / geopolitics
International Relations Theory:
Quick Review & Summary
* Main schools ­ Two Dominant Schools
­ Realism
­ Idealism/liberalism
­ Characteristics
* Problem
* Actors
* Characteristics
IR Theory, cont'd
* Realism:
­ Central problem: war & the use of force
­ Central actors: states interacting with other states (
­ Anarchic system of states
* Hobbs, "Just as stormy weather does not mean
perpetual rain, so a state of war does not mean
constant war."
* Thucydides, "The strong do what they have the
power to do & the weak accept what they have to
accept" (Penguin translation).
­ View: International politics is a jungle dominated by
the exercise of power & power politics
IR Theory, cont'd
* Idealism/Liberalism:
­ Views a global society that functions alongside the
states & sets part of the context for states
­ Trade crosses borders, people have global contacts, &
international institutions (UN, NATO, etc.) create a
context in which the realist view of pure anarchy is
insufficient
­ International system: community
­ State of war focuses only on extreme situations &
misses the growth of economic interdependence & the
evolution of a transnational global society
­ Views international politics as a garden
Requirement #2
* Objective 3. Describe how national-level
strategy & policy incorporates the
instruments of national power as a means of
exercising power & influence.
Instruments/Elements of National Power
* Diplomatic/political
* Informational
* Military
* Economic
* Social
* Others?
Instruments/Elements of National Power
* Diplomatic/Political: The use of a country's
international diplomatic skills & political position
to achieve national interests
* Informational: The use of a country's
information & psychological systems to achieve
national interests
* Military: The extent a country's armed forces
can be used to achieve national interests.
* Economic: The application of a country's
material resources to achieve national interests
The Limits of Military Power
* Political & psychological limits?
* Legitimacy & the credible capacity to coerce?
* Physical limits?
* Culminating points of actions?
* Can you think of or provide others?
Requirement #3
* Objective 4. Determine how the full
dimension of strategy as a concept & as a
process relates to the policy, strategy, &
military operations relationship.
"Strategy" as a Concept & a Process
* The "Strategy Process:"
1. Determining national security objectives
2. Formulating grand strategy
3. Developing military strategy
4. Designing operational strategy
5. Formulating battlefield strategy (tactics)
Strategy as a Concept, cont'd
* Strategy
­ The bridge between policy & operations
­ Effective strategy must integrate political & military
criteria rather than separate them
­ Civilian & military leaders may tend to polarize toward
opposite sides of the bridge
Key Points
Weeks 1 & 2: Grand Strategy: Theory &
Practice (cont'd)
POLICY
Economic
Free Markets
Defeat Terrorism
Free Trade
Democracy
OPERATIONS
Informational
Military
Human Rights
Diplomatic/Political
Strategy
"Grand"
Strategy as a Concept, cont'd
* Complicating factors
­ Steps not neat or compartmentalized but blend & flow
from national security objectives to tactics
­ Reverse flow or feedback system within the process
­ Numerous external factors have influence
­ Where & by whom are decisions decisions made
­ Remember that this is a "political" process
­ What does that mean?
­ See the next slide!
Strategy as a Concept, cont'd
* Characteristics of political/policy strategic
objectives:
­ First step in making strategy is deciding which
political objectives a strategy will aim to
achieve
­ These objectives should establish:
* Definitions for survival & victory for all
participants in the conflict
* Whether the nation is pursuing a limited or
unlimited political objective
Strategy as a Concept, cont'd
* Characteristics of military strategic objectives:
­ Military objectives flow from political/policy
objectives
­ Use of military power should not produce unintended
or undesirable political results
­ Must consider centers of gravity & critical
vulnerabilities
"National Interests"
* Vital "National Interests:"
­ An interest on which the nation is unwilling to
compromise
­ An interest over which a nation would go to
war
* Sometimes interests are categorized
­ Survival
­ Vital
­ Major
­ Peripheral
Requirement #4
* Objective 5. Discuss how the current U. S.
National Security Strategy integrates the
various elements of national power to
achieve its goals & objectives.
* Consider TWO recent US NSS (2002 &
2008; or 2002 & 2009; or 2008 & 2009)
* Let's examine just one (2002) more closely
Post - 9/11 US National Security Strategy
(US NSS, September 2002)
Goals
* Champions aspirations for human dignity
* Strengthen alliances to defeat global terrorism &
work to prevent attacks against us & our friends
* Work with others to defuse regional conflicts
* Prevent our enemies from threatening us, our
allies, & our friends with weapons of mass
destruction
US National Security Strategy, September
2002, cont'd
Goals
* Ignite a new era of global economic growth
through free markets & free trade
* Exp& the circle of development by opening
societies & building the infrastructure of
democracy
* Develop agendas for cooperative action with other
main centers of global power
* Transform America's national security institutions
to meet the challenges & opportunities of the
twenty-first century