A National Security Strategy for a New Century

In his "A National Security Strategy for a New Century" (hereinafter "the document"), President Clinton announces that "the goal of the national security strategy is to ensure the protection of our nation's fundamental and enduring needs: protect the lives and safety of Americans, maintain the sovereignty of the United States, with its values, institutions and territory intact, and provide for the prosperity of the nation and its people. He also firmly states that the strategy will achieve three core objectives of "enhancing our security, bolstering our economic prosperity, and promoting democracy." This essay will examine the core objective of promoting democracy and human rights in light of the essential elements of a national security strategy (assumptions, ends and means, and resources, including whether they are integrated into a coherent strategic framework), discuss why it is flawed as a core objective of national security strategy, and then offer a remedy.