The National Security Policy Exercise offers a ‘hands-on’ introduction to national security policy and strategy formulation. The policy formulation is complex because it requires identifying and prioritizing U.S. interests, evaluating threats to these interests, and identifying U.S. goals and desired outcomes.
Strategy development is the process of orchestrating the instruments of national power to cart an implantable plan to achieve policy goals.
- Assess a security challenge to U.S. national interests.
- Determine appropriate U.S. policy to protect our interests.
- Develop a policy consensus that considers key concerns of players from the Interagency community.
- Consider opportunities and limitations imposed by interests and capabilities of other states, international organizations, and U.S. domestic concerns.
- Create a strategy drawing on the instruments of national power to achieve policy goals.