National security

New National Security Strategy docs alienate US allies

Last week, the National Security Strategy was released by the White House. The document provides the administration's perspectives about the world and future of its foreign and security policy. As was pointed out before the release, the document indicates four main points as U.S. strategy goals: 1-) protect the American people, the homeland and the American way of life, 2-) promote American prosperity, 3-) preserve peace through strength, and 4-) advance American influence. In most parts, the document puts the foreign policy rhetoric and campaign promises of President Trump in written form. However, the vague language in some of these areas does not clarify how the U.S. will achieve these objectives. And the big question is how much these goals and priorities will be implemented and adopted by the foreign policy decision-making structures of the U.S. administration. In particular, given the contradiction between the opinions of different members of the administration during various foreign policy crises, it may be a challenge for the administration to provide a smooth adoption of these policies. Furthermore, it is not clear how some of these goals, especially in the diplomatic realm, will be achieved given the reported downsizing of the State Department.