National Security Strategy: Legislative Mandates, Execution to Date, and Considerations for Congress

There is a growing, still highly inchoate, debate among practitioners and scholars, including participants from across the political spectrum, concerning the need to reform the U.S. government's national security system. Reform proponents argue that much of the current architecture was designed to meet the global security challenges of the post-World War II context, and may not be appropriate for addressing 21st-century challenges. That architecture includes the organizations, structures, and processes that govern decision-making, budgeting, planning and execution, and congressional oversight of national security activities. Strategic guidance documents, including formal strategies and other forms of guidance, are a key element of that system. The current debates are timely because a new administration may begin issuing strategic documents early in its tenure in office.