Risky Business: Fundamentals for a Security Consensus in 1990's and Beyond
Abstract
This paper applies the concepts of comprehensive security and risk analysis to the problem of building a new national consensus in support of our reoriented national security strategy. The paper starts with a review of comprehensive security and demonstrates its applicability to analysis of the full spectrum of American political, economic, and military objectives. After looking at some of the prerequisites for consensus and discussing the trends that work against it, the analysis turns to elements of the strategy where our ability to achieve a fundamental consensus is most at risk. The most significant general risk derives from newly revived domestic pressures for us to disengage ourselves from the rest of the world and turn more to solving our domestic problems. Such a policy orientation would be self defeating; analysis of U.S. interests worldwide, including particularly our dependence on gains from international trade, supports this holding. Recognizing, however, that domestic needs in fact have legitimate claims on the attention of our leadership and on our resources, the analysis indicates that these needs can best be met by a growing economy.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1992
- Accession Number
- ADA252325
Entities
People
- Henry A. Leonard
Organizations
- United States Army War College