National Strategy

Too often over the past several years, American communities have felt the wrenching pain of domestic terrorism. Black church members slaughtered during their bible study in Charleston. A synagogue in Pittsburgh targeted for supporting immigrants. A gunman spraying bullets at an El Paso Walmart to target Latinos. It goes against everything our country strives to stand for in the world, and it poses a direct challenge to America’s national security, our democracy, and our national unity.

"Grand strategy" is one of the most widely used and abused concepts in the foreign policy lexicon. In this important book, Hal Brands explains why grand strategy is a concept that is so alluring - and so elusive - to those who make American statecraft. He explores what grand strategy is, why it is so essential, and why it is so hard to get right amid the turbulence of global affairs and the chaos of domestic politics.

In January 1969, Richard Nixon stepped into the presidency with these realities already in motion: an unpopular war with more than half a million American troops deployed, a nuclear rivalry approaching parity, and a Middle East poised for another round of conflict. In National Security in the...

Strategy has existed as long as there has been organized conflict. In this new account, Jeremy Black explores the ever-changing relationship between purpose, force, implementation, and effectiveness in military strategy and its dramatic impact on the development of the global power system. Taking a "total" view of strategy, Black looks at leading powers - notably the United States, China, Britain, and Russia - in the wider context of their competition and their domestic and international strengths. 

As the 2022 National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy (NDS) makes clear, the United States is in the midst of a decisive decade where the terms of geopolitical competition between the world’s major powers will be set. The Department of Defense (DoD) will advance its priorities in three interlocking ways– through integrated deterrence, campaigning, and by building enduring advantages. Accelerated technology advancement and innovation are key elements to achieving DoD priorities through these strategic ways, and to ensure our national security over the long term.