Lost Priorities

Abstract

A review of the administration's National Security Strategy highlights the administration's inability to identify what's really important and focus its limited resources on accomplishing the essential tasks required to achieve desired objectives. The six strategic priorities set forth in the Strategy fail to accomplish the intent of a priority list, that is to provide choice when confronted with fewer means than required to meet objectives. The purpose of this paper is to outline the major contributing factors to the administration's ineffective priority list and propose required changes. This must be done if the nation wants a priority list that minimizes contradiction, maximizes effectiveness, focuses strategy, and produces policy that meets the nation's objectives. A priority list is the result of sound, systematic development of national interests, objectives, and resource allocations to meet desired objectives. This critical work lacks precision in the Clinton National Security Strategy. Specifically, interests and objectives are too loosely defined, the link between available resources and objectives is not evident, and priorities are not focused.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1998
Accession Number
ADA442002

Entities

People

  • Rhett Hernandez

Organizations

  • National War College

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Contracts
  • Democracy
  • Information Operations
  • Leadership
  • Middle East
  • National Security
  • Security
  • Universities
  • War Colleges

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
  • Strategic Security Studies