Commentary
Each presidential administration issues key documents to articulate the public-facing presidential policy on key issues. In the national security world, these start with the National Security Strategy (NSS).
The NSS is the key, foundational document for an administration to communicate its intent, goals, and end state to the world. Clarity is the essence of communicating an NSS. We want other nations to understand clearly what the United States desires for the American agenda at home and abroad with as little ambiguity as possible. There’s possibly a role for ambiguity in certain situations, and that will be referenced.
The Biden team issued interim NSS guidance in March 2021 and just released the first complete NSS on Oct. 12, 2022. The three key actions out of the just-released Biden NSS are: invest, build, modernize. What exactly is meant by these three? The document goes into further detail, but there’s (as there always is) room for interpretation….