Prisms & Policy: U.S. Security Strategy after the Cold War

This report reflects the efforts of a group of RAND researchers to think about the implications of recent global and domestic changes for future U.S. national security challenges in great detail– realism,
multinational security,
democratic internationalism, and strategic independence. Although the differences between these strategies are profound, the commonalities provide some ground for identifying potential strategy components around which a future U.S. strategy might be developed: redefining the U.S. role in world affairs to deal with a perceived need for continuing U.S. engagement; reformulating U.S. military requirements to meet some core U.S. security concerns (e.g., protecting the security of the United States and of its citizens abroad and impeding the spread of weapons of mass destruction); and ensuring a greater linkage between U.S. foreign policy goals and domestic, especially economic, objectives. The report concludes with three overarching challenges the Administration will face in building a new national security strategy.