New strategy, same National Security Strategy

Jan 3, 2018

Is President Trump’s new National Security Strategy doomed to fail? How important are principles in guiding foreign policy? What are the merits of Judy Blume’s adult novels? These are the hard-hitting questions that Perry World House’s Rebecca Friedman Lissner and Michael Horowitz answer in the latest episode of The Global Cable.

Rebecca Friedman Lissner is a Perry World House Postdoctoral Fellow whose research focuses on national security decision-making and nuclear issues. Prior to this, Dr. Lissner was the Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and worked as Special Advisor to the Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy.

• (1:00) – Dr. Lissner’s interest in foreign policy, research focus, and work on policy issues.
• (3:10) – The gap between writing and rhetoric in President Trump’s new National Security Strategy.   
• (7:20) – What is Principled Realism?
•  (9:45) – Is there a Values Deficit in U.S. Foreign Policy?
•  (15:05) – What are the two most important challenges that the United States will face in 2018?
• (16:45) – The probability of war with North Korea.
• (18:35) – What are the two most important challenges that the United States will face in the long-term?
• (20:45) – What is the future of nuclear proliferation in countries under the United States security umbrella?
• (24:20) – What are you reading?
• (26:00) – Career advice for university students.

Episode Reading:

• “The National Security Strategy Is Not a Strategy,” Rebecca Friedman Lissner, Foreign Affairs https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2017-12-19/national-security-strategy-not-strategy
• National Security Strategy of the United States of America, White House https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf
• Trump Speech on “America First” National Security Strategy, Donald J. Trump, CNN (Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlXL4nUHM1Y
• The Middle Eastern Roots of Nuclear Alarmism Over North Korea,” Rebecca Friedman Lissner, War on the Rocks https://warontherocks.com/2017/10/the-middle-eastern-roots-of-nuclear-alarmism-over-north-korea/

Music and Produced by Tre Hester