A Grand Strategic Vision for the Employment of National Power
Abstract
The United States Government is currently engaged in a massive effort to transform America's elements of national power to meet the security challenges of the Twenty-First century. In an ambiguous and uncertain world, the strategic challenge that confronts the United States is how to best execute the current Global War on Terror (GWOT) while we prepare the elements of National Power to meet the challenges of shaping the international security environment, while also maintaining the capability to execute missions throughout the spectrum of conflict. This thesis attempts to answer the question, how should the U.S. organize and employ elements of national power? By analyzing lessons learned from Operation Iraqi Freedom and ongoing efforts to transform the elements of National Power, this paper introduces a "Grand Strategic Vision" for reorganizing all of the elements of national power into geographic areas of responsibility. The pillars of national power: governance, security, information, economic and social development, and justice would execute as a single regional entity with an integrated command and control structure under the command of an individual appointed by the President of the United States (POTUS). A permanent yet adaptive structure of a unified national effort executed regionally would replace today's stove-piped execution of U.S. policy, and ad-hoc approach to interagency integration.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 15, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA451247
Entities
People
- Matthew A. Lopez
Organizations
- National Defense University