The Bush National Security Strategy: What’s All the Fuss About?

President George W. Bush’s The National Security Strategy of the United States of America (NSS) received more criticism after its release than the strategy statements of any previous president. The primary complaints were that the strategy attempted to impose American values on the rest of the world, sought to gain and maintain American strategic dominance, and was too aggressive. However, the Bush NSS is an assertive strategy that confronts the post-9/11 world head-on. It presents an integrated approach to dealing with those threats that relies on all elements of national power. A careful reading reveals that much of the strategy is not new policy. Promoting American values abroad is as old as the nation itself. Maintaining a preeminent place in the world has been a goal since the US inherited its position at the end of the Cold War. What is new in the document, and the main source of criticism, is the discussion of US intent to use preemptive action if required. Even preemption, although not as written policy, is nothing new to the US.

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