The Institute for a Secure America, a research and educational organization, conducts disciplined analysis on how America can strengthen its national security and that of our allies. America faces a new set of national security and foreign policy challenges that require significant changes in how we address the current dangers. These increased threats are present in more geographic regions and across more spheres of life, economic as well as political and military. Dangerous technologies and weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, chemical and biological) are now joined by threats in cyberspace, asymmetric and hybrid warfare strategies, advanced missile technologies, and renewed threats from international terrorists.
Despite decades long support for and optimism about the prospects for China becoming a “responsible stakeholder” engaged in a “peaceful rise,” we now see essentially the opposite. Russia has failed to emerge from the collapse of Communism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and has lost representative government, and is threatening its neighbors while forming a global axis with China. Russia’s three-plus years of unprovoked aggression against Ukraine proved our worst fears, and presages even more belligerent conduct against others. Both Russia and China seek strategic nuclear superiority over the U.S. and have funded programs to achieve it for many years. Our nuclear deterrent and nuclear umbrella have never faced this dual threat. And our response to it must be accelerated.
Iran and North Korea are both regional menaces and global proliferation threats, and now outriders of the Beijing Moscow axis. They are examples for other rogue states on thwarting international efforts to prevent their acquiring deliverable nuclear weapons. Nonetheless, thanks to Israel’s resolve in taking on Iran and its terrorist proxies, Tehran’s ayatollahs have never been more vulnerable. America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan has left the United States and its friends more at risk from terrorist attacks than during the last two decades. In Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua dictatorships with close ties to U.S. adversaries remain in power, underlining the need for clear strategies to preserve peace and security in this Hemisphere. The risk of isolationist tendencies at home has signaled weakness to authoritarian regimes worldwide.
These and many other difficult, complex issues mean that America must develop new strategies and physical capabilities to address them. Working especially with members of Congress and other opinion leaders, the Institute expects to provide the educational foundations for sound policies.
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