The Hierarchical Nature of Strategy

National security strategy should be the resultant of a careful and thoughtful process intended to pursue long-term national interests as opposed to a haphazard, short-term, reactionary course of action. Therefore, we can view national security strategy as a methodical exercise to determine the correct balance between national objectives (ends), the policy alternatives (ways) to achieve those ends, and the means (resources) necessary to employ the policy alternatives that will bring about national objectives. To determine the proper mix of ends, ways, and means, we must have an understanding of who we are as a nation, our national values, and what we perceive to be important steps, interests, that need to be pursued to protect and defend those values. The following hierarchical methodology is employed by the United States Army War College as a technique to provide a logical progression from the determination of national values through the development of national military strategy and national homeland security strategy and the subsequent determination of an acceptable level of risk.

In theory and as outlined in the diagram, the hierarchical development of national strategy begins with the understanding of core national values from which one can derive national interests. U.S. national values represent the legal, philosophical, and moral basis for preservation of our American way of life. These values define who we are as a people, what we find important as a sovereign nation, and they provide our sense of national purpose. The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution enumerate the fundamental framework of American values, which can be summarized as an overarching respect for individual human rights, and the respect for the rule of law.

From these core national values we are able to identify key national interests that protect and promote our national values. For example, key national interests include: our democratic way of life, territorial integrity, global trade and international rule of law, regional peace, and so on. These national interests become the focus of U.S. national action and they furnish the impetus for the identification and selection of national objectives (ends) from which the formulation of national security policy and strategy are ultimately derived.

As a technique, interests can be subdivided into several levels of intensity in an effort to answer the following question: What happens if the interest is not achieved? By answering this question, national leaders are able to prioritize national interests and to subsequently devote limited national resources (means) to those interests that if not protected or promoted could have either an immediate or future detrimental impact on our core national values.

One of the techniques that national leaders are able to employ to identify key national interests is a process known as the “Strategic Appraisal.” Essentially, the strategic appraisal examines the domestic and international environments to identify the full spectrum of real and potential threats, challenges, trends, technologies, movements, and ideologies that do or may have an adverse impact on national interests. The strategic appraisal also examines all potential opportunities that may prove to be beneficial in the support and preservation of national interests. It must be understood that these various threats, challenges, and opportunities may be arise from both state and non-state actors or from international trends such as globalization or the proliferation of weapons and information technology.

Following the completion of the strategic appraisal and its subsequent identification of opportunities, threats, and challenges that may or will impact U.S. national interests, national leaders, particularly the president in the case of the U.S., must articulate 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 national interests. For example, on August 5th, 1990, when speaking to reporters on the south lawn of the White House, President George H. W. Bush stated in response to the then recent Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, “This will not stand. This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait.” In making this statement, President Bush articulated a refined U.S. national security policy that was consistent with U.S. national values and interests and was based on the contemporary international security environment thereby giving a clear indication to the world and to the U.S. national security apparatus just exactly what the U.S. position was concerning the invasion and by inference what the U.S. was going to do to expel Iraq from Kuwait.