Executive Branch Policies and Strategies

Introduction

The National Security Strategy (NSS) and the Defense Reorganization Act of 1986

So, just what exactly is the National Security Strategy (NSS) and what dictates its preparation?

In 1986, the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act attempted to legislate a solution to what many believed was a significant shortcoming in U.S. national security policy which was the frequent failure of sitting presidents to adequately formulate a consistent and integrated policy that incorporated all elements of U.S. national power: diplomatic, information, military, and economic. Specifically, the act required the following stipulations:

"SEC. 603. ANNUAL REPORT ON NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY (a) Annual Presidential Report. - (1) Title I of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 402 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section: “SEC. 104. (a) (1) The President shall transmit to Congress each year a comprehensive report on the national security strategy of the United States (hereinafter in this section referred to as a ‘national security strategy report’). (2) The national security strategy report for any year shall be transmitted on the date on which the President submits to Congress the budget for the next fiscal year under section 1105 of Title 31, United States Code. (b) Each national security strategy report shall set forth the national security strategy of the United States and shall include a comprehensive description and discussion of the following: (1) The worldwide interests, goals, and objectives of the United States that are vital to the national security of the United States. (2) The foreign policy, worldwide commitments, and national defense capabilities of the United States necessary to deter aggression and to implement the national security strategy of the United States. (3) The proposed short-term and long-term uses of the political, economic, military, and other elements of the national power of the United States to protect or promote the interests and achieve the goals and objectives referred to in paragraph (1). (4) The adequacy of the capabilities of the United States to carry out the national security strategy of the United States, including an evaluation of the balance among the capabilities of all elements of the national power of the United States to support the implementation of the national security strategy. (5) Such other information as may be necessary to help inform Congress on matters relating to the national security strategy of the United States.”

Following the completion of a global strategic appraisal and its subsequent identification of opportunities, threats, and challenges that may or will impact U.S. national interests, the president articulates broad courses of action or statements of guidance and objectives that will be adopted by the national government in an effort to promote and protect U.S. national interests as required by the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act. Once all of the hierarchical steps of strategy development have been accomplished, to include the promulgation of both formal and informal national policy objectives and guidance, the National Security Council and particularly the National Security Advisor (Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs) produces the official NSS.

The NSS provides all federal departments with national policy objectives and clear, concise, and achievable guidance from which, for our purposes, homeland security objectives can be developed and formally promulgated by the Secretary for Homeland Security in the National Strategyfor Homeland Security.

It is important to understand that the NSS articulates the president’s strategic vision as he attempts to adapt the American government to the ever changing realities and responsibilities of the global environment. The NSS provides guidance and direction to the federal government in an attempt to outline priorities, and perhaps most importantly of all, to engender a level of policy coherence that maximizes the impact of all of the elements of national power while simultaneously minimizing risk. The NSS also gives notice to the rest of the world as to just exactly what U.S. national interests are and how the United States will use its elements of national power to secure those interests.