National Security Strategies: Security from What, for Whom, and by What Means

This article argues that a fundamental change is taking place in how countries view, approach, and implement strategies to protect their `national security.' In the past, strategies underlying national security narrowly focused on threats that could be addressed by military and/or diplomatic means. Now, however, `national security' is viewed in a much broader context, with the focus on preserving that which makes a country unique, and that includes the intangibles of its culture as well as what physically lies within its borders. The result is that countries are revising existing national security strategies (including those covering homeland security or domestic security) or crafting entirely new ones to address this much broader view of that which is to be protected. Drawing on recent literature and documents addressing diverse national security strategies, this article discusses the following areas: (1) the definition of national security, (2) the purpose of a national security strategy, (3) how a national security strategy is evaluated, and (4) implications for The National Security Strategy of the United States and The National Strategy for Homeland Security as a new Administration governs.