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Running head: NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY

United States’ National Security Strategy

Mark D. Derham

American Military University

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Abstract

The Bush administration’s strategic priorities were developed during a time of war, and it is

evident in many of the stated national interests and strategic priorities. The main strategic

priorities that reverberated throughout the National Security Strategy were to enhance alliances,

increase cooperation, promote democracy worldwide, and increase the global economy (White

House, 2006). Bush fell short in many aspects of these priorities during his 8 years in office.

Alliances were enhanced, and Bush was very successful in creating much closer ties with both

Russia and China through the six party talks over North Korea’s nuclear program. However,

when it comes to alliances that will help in the Global War on Terror, there is still much to do.

The Global War on Terror that the Bush administration began caused many to question the

United States’ stance on human rights. Many alliances were created at that time with nations

that had less than stellar reputations, and the fiasco over Guantanamo Bay has likely scarred

America for a long time to come. This hindered his objective of championing democracy and

human dignity across the globe. Bush’s desire to increase the global economy failed miserably

with the advent of a global recession that is still looming in the air to this day. The global

recession will be the primary focus as the Obama administration moves ahead. Attempting to

gain a foothold on the Global War on Terror beginning in Afghanistan and continuing to work

to limit the proliferation of WMDs just as Bush did will continue to be a top priority for Obama.

It is already become apparent that Obama would like to follow a more diplomatic approach to

many of the global security issues rather than use military force as a means of persuasion as the

Bush administration did on many occasions.

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The National Security Strategy outlines national interests and strategic priorities that can

hardly be assessed on a short term basis; rather, results are much more evident in the long term

once the strategy has been completed implemented and had time to take effect. The Bush

administration’s priorities were developed during a time of war, and it is evident in many of the

stated national interests and strategic priorities. The main strategic priorities that reverberate

throughout the National Security Strategy were to enhance alliances, increase cooperation,

promote democracy worldwide, and increase the global economy. Bush fell short in many

aspects of these priorities during his 8 years in office.

The first priority of President Bush’s 2006 National Security Strategy was to “Champion

aspirations for human dignity” (White House, 2006). In short, President Bush wanted to create

more democracies and support human rights worldwide. It is widely believed that a democracy

is the best form of government as democracies strengthen international stability, reduce

conflicts, counter terrorism and extremism, and extend both peace and prosperity (White House,

2006). Extending human rights has long been a priority of the United States; however, I believe

that many decisions that were made in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring

Freedom caused many to questions our nation’s intentions. This is mainly due to the alliances

that were formed between the United States and several countries that had less than stellar

reputations when it came to human rights. Additionally, the conundrum of Guantanamo Bay has

liked stained the United States’ reputation for many years to come. There is no doubt that the

United States has since, and even during the last few years, pressed for human rights and

democracy in many countries; however, there is much more that could be done. This includes

increasing efforts to stabilize many African nations that remain in turmoil as well as nations

such as Myanmar where the people don’t have the power or the voice to dethrone the military
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dictatorship that is in control. The Bush administration championed the fact that they were able

to bring democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan many times (Gray, 2006). However, I do not

believe that was enough, and the Bush administration did not support human rights and the

creation of democratic countries as much as they could have, and the policy that was

implemented fell short of what is expected of the world’s largest superpower.

The National Security Strategies’ second outlined priority was to “strengthen alliances to

defeat global terrorism and work to prevent attack against us and our friends” (White House,

2006). Alliances have been strengthened during Bush’s terms; however, the perception of the

United States has also faltered in the international community. The way the U.S. handled the

toppling of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship in 2003 caused many to develop a lot of hatred

toward our government and our country. Starting a war without the United Nations approval

cost the U.S. a lot of support among the international community. There was much ground for

the Bush administration to make up since then. Alliances and relations have improved since;

however, there is much more to do especially when it comes to global terrorism. Terrorism

continues to be a global issue, and while there have been no attacks on U.S. soil since the

September 11th attacks in 2001, attacks have occurred elsewhere to include our biggest ally,

Great Britain (White House, 2006). Many countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan continue

to maintain vast amounts of terrorists and extremists. The shift in focus from Iraq to

Afghanistan has no doubt done much to eliminate the remaining terrorist elements; however, the

country is still a long way off from being terrorist free. The fact that Pakistan, a U.S. ally, has

stepped up operations to remove the terrorist safe havens from their country does give credence

to the fact that Bush was able to have some success in defeating global terrorism in his term.
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These successes came with a heavy price, and that is something the Obama administration must

factor into the United State’s future foreign policy strategy.

To “work with others to defuse regional conflicts” was the third national priority outlined

in the National Security Strategy. The document flouts the successful negotiations that led to a

peaceful resolution to the two decade long conflict between the Sudanese Peoples Liberation

Movement and the Sudan government. The document also gives the United States credit for

improved relations between the volatile governments of India and Pakistan (White House, 2006).

Those improved relations were short lived, however, after the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist

attacks occurred, and it was discovered that the terrorists were trained in Pakistan’s boarders

(CIA World Factbook, 2009). Both countries beefed up their boarder security, and tensions

continue to remain at an elevated level to this day. This will continue to be an issue that the

Obama administration will have to develop a strong policy on. However, I do not believe the

Bush administration’s policy on this issue was poorly constructed. It is just a reminder of how

much chaos terrorism can cause in the world. The Bush administration also recognized many

challenges that lay ahead in the regions of Darfur, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba and Uganda.

Little was done to fix these troubled regions. In contrast, When Obama came into office, he

immediately began to work on Cuba-U.S. relations, and he began a process to open up Cuba to

American citizens and vice-versa.

The fourth stated national interest was to “prevent our enemies from threatening us, our

allies, and our friends with weapons of mass destruction” (White House, 2006). The Bush

administration did have a few successes when it came to limiting countries’ access to WMDs.

The A.Q. Khan network, which sold nuclear secrets to those willing to buy it, including Iran, was

dissolved by a joint operation. Libya gave up on their WMD program once initiatives set forth by
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the U.S. hindered their access to shipments. Additionally, the U.S. was able to get the UN place

sanctions against Iran over their nuclear program (White House, 2006). These successes are still

overshadowed by looming challenges and failures. Iran continues to defy the international

community and pursue nuclear technology despite all of Bush’s attempts at stopping and

hindering their program. The once successful six party talks in North Korea failed once again,

and that was soon followed by another nuclear test by the rouge country as well as several

ballistic missile tests. North Korea continues to provoke and defy the international community

every chance they get. Also, terrorist networks that desire the destruction of the U.S. continue to

pursue WMDs, and many believe that Iran and North Korea will be willing to sell their secrets

once they have gained the capability themselves. It is clear that the approach the Bush

administration has taken towards limiting access to WMDs has been less than perfect, and it will

be necessary for the Obama administration to reinvigorate this campaign.

The fifth stated national interest was to “ignite a new era of global economic growth

through free markets and free trade” (White House, 2006). The Bush administration did live by

the principles of the free market system throughout the majority of its two terms. However, the

end of Bush’s second term saw a deep recession hit not only the U.S. economy but also the entire

global economy. Bush abandoned the free market principles after the recession hit. Many believe

that Bush’s policy of not regulating the market caused the current crisis, especially his “failure to

regulate the mortgage markets” (Think Progress, 2008). Bush failed to ignite a global economic

growth, and his last years saw a major recession hit the global economy. While the entire credit

should not be given to Bush for the failure of the U.S. economy, he bears the brunt of the

attention since he was the President at the time the recession began.
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The sixth national interest was to “expand the circle of development by opening societies

and building the infrastructure of democracy” (White House, 2006). The U.S. has the largest

economy in the world, but we continue to give the least percentage of our countries income to

international aid efforts. While this continues to be a global issue with the richest nations

worldwide not giving a larger share of their national spending, more must be done by the U.S. to

assist those who are not as fortunate. Additionally, the majority of the foreign aid that was given

out by the U.S. in recent years was tied to our foreign policy objectives (Shah, 2009). There

continues to be little improvement in African and Asian countries that suffer on a daily basis

because of the lack of necessary food and water, and I believe that the U.S. has not done enough

in past years to address these issues.

The seventh national interest was to “develop agendas for cooperative action with the

other main centers of global power” (White House, 2006). There are many instances where the

U.S. did a good job of collaborating with other global powers on a level that was not previously

seen. The six party talks that were established to persuade North Korea from obtaining nuclear

weapons gave the U.S. an unprecedented chance to increase relations with China and Russia.

The Bush administration was able to improve relations with the aforementioned countries;

however, I believe he fell short of a cooperation that is necessary in order to establish global

security. Bush also improved relations with India, the most populous democracy whose economy

is also growing at a very fast rate (White House, 2006). The global powers still continue to

struggle to cooperate on numerous agendas, which causes friction on a regular basis.

The final national interest was to “transform America’s national security institutions to

meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century” (White House, 2006). The September

11, 2001 attacks brought national security to the attention of our countries’ leaders like never
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before. The inability of our intelligence agencies to collaborate to create one coherent picture

proved that change was necessary to ensure the security of our nation. While I believe some

barriers have been removed that have hindered intelligence efforts in the past, there are still

many issues that affect our intelligence agencies to this day. Many cannot be attributed to the

Bush administration; however, I believe that there are still too many strictures and rules

governing our intelligence agencies that limit the sharing of information. Overall, the Bush

administration has improved our national security, which has been proven by the lack of a

terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, but there is still much to do in order to protect our

boarders in the future.

President Obama is very likely to keep many of the same national interests and priorities

that Bush had in his two terms. When it comes to pushing for democracies and handing out

foreign aid, Obama has already stated that he will double our foreign aid and continue to work on

a diplomatic approach to ensuring democracy prevails in the world (McClatchy Newspapers,

2007). Ensuring the world is safe from weapons of mass destruction will be a continuing top

priority for Obama. He has already shown that he desires to take a diplomatic approach to the

Iranian nuclear situation, and I believe that this will carry over to North Korea as well. I believe

he will also follow a path of deterrence against attacks on the U.S. by maintaining a large

military presence in foreign nations and attacking terrorism at its roots in Afghanistan and

Pakistan (Times Online, 2009). However, he has already stated that he will always take a

diplomatic approach first before employing military forces. This will likely be a consistent theme

throughout his presidency of putting diplomacy ahead of military might. This will no doubt put

Obama on a path to improving relations with the global powers, and improving upon

international cooperation in times when a global unity is necessary.

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Many of Bush’s priorities fell short of the intended mark and that can mainly be

contributed to the majority of his attention being focused on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The

allocation of resources was heavily emphasized on both of the countries, and it left little else for

other priorities. The recession that hit the U.S. and global economy can also be attributed to

many of the shortfalls that befell the Bush administration. There is no doubt that Bush fell short

on many of his objectives that were set forth in the 2006 National Security Strategy. The first and

foremost priority of the Obama administration will be to ensure a quick recovery of the U.S

economy, and this issue will continue to overshadow foreign policies until Americans can go to

bed at night assured that their job will still be there in the morning.
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References

CIA World Factbook (2009). Pakistan. Retrieved July 20, 2009 from

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pk.html.

Gray, Christine (2006). The Bush Doctrine Revisited: The 2006 National Security Strategy of the

USA. Chinese Journal of International Law, 5(3), 555-578. Retrieved July 24, 2009.

McClatchy Newspapers (2007). Obama pledges to double U.S. foreign aid. Retrieved July 20,

2009 from

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/042407dnn

atobama.31a0740.html

Shah, Anup (2009). US and Foreign Aid Assistance. Global issues. Retrieved July 24, 2009 from

http://www.globalissues.org/article/35/us-and-foreign-aid-assistance

Think Progress (2008). Bush: ‘I’ve Abandoned Free Market Principles To Save The Free Market

System.’ Retrieved July 24, 2009 from http://thinkprogress.org/2008/12/16/bush-free-

market/

Times Online (2008). Barack Obama - the security strategy. Retrieved July 21, 2009 from

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article4339966.ece

White House, the (2006). The National Security Strategy. Washington, DC: U.S. Government

Printing Office.