Newly Released US National Security Strategy

In his newly released National Security Strategy, President Donald Trump laid out a plan to ensure that America remains the world’s strongest, richest, most powerful, and most successful country for decades to come. This strategy is a concrete, realistic plan that explains the essential connection between ends and means. It begins with an accurate assessment of what is desired and what tools are available, or can realistically be created, to achieve the desired outcomes.

Not every country, region, issue, or cause - however worthy - can be the focus of American strategy, noted President Trump. Indeed, the purpose of foreign policy is the protection of core national interests and that is the sole focus of this strategy.

That’s why the U.S. wants to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States. The U.S. wants a Hemisphere whose governments cooperate with it against narco-terrorists, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations. The U.S. seeks a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets, and that supports critical supply chains; and the U.S. wants to ensure its continued access to key strategic locations. In other words, the U.S. will assert and enforce a “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine.

The U.S. wants to halt and reverse the ongoing damage that foreign actors inflict on the American economy while keeping the Indo-Pacific free and open, preserving freedom of navigation in all crucial sea lanes, and maintaining secure and reliable supply chains and access to critical materials.

The U.S. seeks to support its allies in preserving the freedom and security of Europe, while restoring Europe’s civilizational self-confidence and Western identity.

The U.S. is looking to prevent an adversarial power from dominating the Middle East, its oil and gas supplies, and the chokepoints through which they pass while avoiding the “forever wars” that bogged the U.S. down in that region at great cost.

The U.S. also wants to ensure that its technology and standards - particularly in artificial intelligence, biotech, and quantum computing - drive the world forward.

These are the United States’ core, vital national interests, said President Trump. “While we also have others, these are the interests we must focus on above all others, and that we ignore or neglect at our peril.”