Foreign Policy Research Institute A Nation Must Think Before it Acts National Security Program

The United States is in the midst of what the 2022 National Security Strategy describes as a “turning point”– as technological, political, economic and environmental changes reshape both the global system as well as the definition of national security. 

The National Security Program seeks to assess efforts by the United States to reduce dependence on authoritarian states for natural resources for fueling Western economies, which can spur domestic technological innovation and also spur movement towards a green energy revolution while giving new purpose to Cold War alliances that move beyond military cooperation towards closer technological and economic relationships that will benefit their middle classes. 

Can the United States navigate among two broad sets of challenges—containing revisionist powers while promoting cooperation—and to do so in ways that balance US interests and obligations in different regions of the world as well as address domestic concerns and constituencies?