Thursday’s column included an item on the Obama Administration’s just-issued National Security Strategy. That document, which replaces the March 2006 iteration, identifies economic power as the bedrock of national influence and calls for approaching statecraft from a “whole-of-government” perspective as opposed to over-reliance on the military.
The U.S. supports “a stronger and more capable” European defense, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said during an Oct. 22 press conference in Brussels—but that defense should not duplicate the functions and capabilities of the NATO alliance.