Formulating National Security Strategy
Strategies are shaped by the processes that produce them. If designed well, a strategy formulation process enables decisionmakers to evaluate the political, security, and budgetary environments, identify choices for an organization, weigh risks, opportunities, and tradeoffs, and determine the best way forward. A strategy formulation process determines which issues will be raised for decision, how issues are elevated to senior levels, what options are presented, who participates in the decisionmaking, and how the results are communicated both internally and externally.
Please join us for the release of the CSIS study Formulating National Security Strategy: Past Experiences and Future Choices and a panel discussion on strategy formulation in the Defense Department. The Trump administration is now developing a new defense and national security strategy, but these processes, and the resulting documents, have been heavily criticized in the past. The study, prepared for DOD and mandated by the Congress, identifies key choices for policymakers in constructing a strategy formulation process and makes recommendations on best practices based on analysis of previous processes. Our panel will bring its extensive experience to bear, discussing what they have learned from past efforts and what they recommend for the current administration.
This report release event will feature a presentation of the report’s key findings as well as a panel discussion featuring:
Andrew Hoehn
Senior Vice President, Research and Analysis
RAND Corporation
LtGen Robert Schmidle, Jr., USMC, Ret.
Former Deputy Director
Office of the Secretary of Defense, Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation
Christine Wormuth
Director, Adrienne Arsht Center for Resilience
Atlantic Council
Moderated by:
Mark Cancian
Senior Adviser, International Security Program
CSIS
