Why We Need a Long-Term National Security Strategy

 Why We Need a Long-Term National Security Strategy 

 

By Edward Haugland 

When discussing US national security, it is logical to ask why are we so lacking in strategic forethought, planning, or strategy? How and why have China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran not only survived but advanced their strategic priorities at the expense of ours?

In simple terms, they act, we react. They thereby advance their world vision, priorities and objectives by assessing the fuller strategic environment, identify gaps and weaknesses, then exploit or take advantage of our siloed approach to national security. We remain in a primarily reactive and defensive position devoid of a true long-term national security strategy. This is a losing position. President Trump and his administration are our best chance to change this paradigm because he builds things to last centuries, not just four years, and is not wedded to the bureaucracy. 

How are we losing so badly? We are thirty-six plus trilliondollars in debt. We have depleted our strategic oil reserve and weapons stockpiles. We have outsourced our industrial base and severely crippled our ability to produce our own energy. We are dependent on others for access to critical minerals, maritime transportation, critical pharmaceuticals, and computer processing chips. The multiple threats we face today (domestic and global) are a direct result of our lack of a long-term strategy, priorities, and a strategic implementation plan. Our myopic view, and perpetual reactive posture, rewards our adversaries by allowing them to drive us to react to their priorities. This is a deadly mixture of strategic negligence and cognitive dissonance.President Trump is attempting to fix these issues, but subsequent administrations will be required, so he needs to build a long-term strategy for our nation, one that will last centuries, not four years.

China, Russian, North Korea, and Iran secure their regimes byadvancing control and eliminating others. These regimes have undertaken efforts to subvert, destroy, and subjugate the United States over decades. Yet, with rare exception, we react. The examples are endless starting with the war in Ukraine, protecting Taiwan, seeking peace in the middle east, precluding Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, stopping the theft of intellectual property, preventing cyber attacks on our critical infrastructureor adversaries creating illegal bioweapons labs in our homeland. They are waging a very successful Cognitive War against us, as the primary battlegrounds have not been kinetic but cognitive. Yet we remain unaware, unprepared, and unarmed.

President Trump, in both his administrations, has demonstrated an ability to drive a more proactive national security posture. But it is not enough. It is inadequate to tie our national security strategy to changes in presidential administrations. He must lead us in adjusting our strategic priorities and timelines from four tofifty, or even a hundred years. Each administration can then assess how best to advance towards those strategic priorities during their term in office, while also allowing thoughtful adjustments based on changes in the global arena. We must be able to compete on multiple battlefields in this cognitive war.

What is required to build and implement such a strategy? We must: 

• Establish our long-term (50-100 year) strategic global and domestic priorities, which must include the end of dystopian regimes like Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. 

• Plan and prepare for the obvious - the end of these dystopian regimes. Each are run by dystopian dictators, who by definition are suicidal. Any dictatorship is a failed state, as it is held together by terror, subjugation, force –which inherently are destined to fail. We can ill afford to leave another void upon their demise, as we did in post-Cold War Russia, by having options to influence the environment to our desired outcome.

• Develop a true long-term implementation plan and strategy to execute that plan in order to meet our priorities, ensuring proper sequencing of action to optimize impact. 

• Assess what we lack in expertise, functions, policy, to be able implement the strategy.

• Drastically alter our national security paradigm to compete in this ongoing cognitive war by applying a new proactiveoperational framework and overhauling our broken national security apparatus (intelligence, defense, diplomacy, energy, homeland security, etc.)

President Trump must lead, applying his expertise in building things that last centuries, in creating a new long-term national security strategy and concurrent capabilities, capacity, expertise, and structure. He can lead us in alteringour reactive posture, remembering technology is but an enabler, focusing our efforts on cognitive vice solely kinetic solutions, and developing this long-term national security strategy. I discuss these elements in more detail in my book on The Cognitive War: Why We Are Losing and How We can Win. Until we undertake such an effort, we will continueto defer to our adversary’s global vision and priorities.

Edward Haugland is a USAF veteran and retired senior executive with four decades serving the IC and DOD. All statements of fact, opinion or analysis expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official positions or views of the U.S. government. Nothing in the contents should be construed as asserting or implying U.S. government authentication of information or endorsement of the author’s views.

Edward L. Haugland, © 2025, all rights reserved.