By Franz-Stefan Gady
The new document is meant to explain the purpose and promise of American power in the years ahead.
Today, the Obama White House released its second and final national security strategy (NSS), outlining in broad strokes the strategic vision of the U.S. president and his national security team. Overall, the white paper places a premium on U.S. leadership in the world: “The strategy sets out the principles and priorities that describe how America will lead the world toward greater peace and a new prosperity.” The New York Times notes that the words “lead” and “leadership” are used almost a hundred times in the document, a hint that the administration is consciously trying to refute accusations by critics that the White House lack assertiveness on the international stage.
The NSS emphasizes that it is meant to clarify “the purpose and promise of American power.” The 29-page document (PDF), required by Congress, differs from its 2010 predecessor, which mostly centered on ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, finding a way out of the global financial crisis, and“resetting” the relationship with Russia. Today, in an event at the Brookings Institution, U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, presented the NSS to the broader American public, and stated that, “2015 is a whole new ballgame [and] much has changed in the past five years (…) [yet] what’s missing in Washington is often a sense of long-term perspective.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat