NSC Memo for President Trump-Get Essay Help Online
Review of potential threats and grand strategic considerations
1) International terrorism and the threat presented by criminal organizations
2) Threats from so-called “rogue” states. These might be better thought of as states that refuse to conform to the norms of the international order: primarily North Korea but in the eyes of the current administration Iran as well.
3) Threats from “normal” state actors and potential regional hegemons: Russia and China stand out here.
4) Threats presented by failed or criminal states (the types of scenarios discussed by Black and John Mueller in our course readings) – states which are incapable of controlling their territory and which regularly prey on their citizens. Somalia would be an example.
5) General threats to what is called the “liberal international order” – note that this term refers to the international system that the U.S. has more or less defended since World War II (free trade, open navigation of the world’s oceans, rule-based international system based on recognition and acceptance of existing borders, etc.). Do not confuse it with domestic U.S. politics: defense of the “liberal international order” has been a bi-partisan priority for the most of the last seventy years.
6) Threats represented by the deterioration of the U.S.’s nuclear arsenal.
The president prioritized the first of those threats during his campaign but he has placed as much if not greater emphasis on North Korea since taking office. The president has always expressed concerns over Iran; he has expressed serious displeasure with Pakistan’s continued support of the Taliban; and his rhetoric has notably shifted with respect to Russia. He has continued to suggest that NATO should bear a greater share of European defense and he has occasionally raised questions about the depth of his commitment to the U.S.’s European allies.
The president’s administration has been notably quiet regarding U.S. military deployments and activities abroad. But the president has increased the size of U.S. forces operating in Iraq and Syria as well as in Afghanistan. Now that ISIS has been defeated, at least as a territorial state, you might have some thoughts on the question of how far and fast U.S. forces might be removed. Similarly, you might have some ideas regarding Afghanistan: what the U.S. is trying to achieve and how this might be best achieved.
At the same time, you will want to balance of requirements of those on-going campaigns (in both case, the president was simply modifying the basic approach of the previous administration) against what you regard as the most important issues facing the U.S. elsewhere. How should the U.S. deal with North Korea? A more confrontational approach likely assumes devoting greater military resources to Korea, while a less confrontational approach might allow one to shift military resources from the peninsula. The president has also indicated that he would like more options with respect to North Korea: what can you offer him (be careful here: North Korea not only possesses a substantial conventional army, it also has some nuclear capability and also has the ability to target Seoul with conventional artillery: as Sen. Risch (R – Idaho) recently told the Munich Security Conference, any war with North Korea would be of “biblical proportions”). The president has also suggested that he is likely to take a more aggressive approach with Iran: what exactly might that entail? And with what resources?
Prioritizing China likely means devoting more resources both the maintenance of U.S. military alliances in Asia and bolstering the Pacific fleet, while doing so with Russia means strengthening the U.S.’s European alliances and perhaps stationing more troops in Europe.
The topic
President Trump has decided that he wants a fresh set of voices on the National Security Council and he has decided to follow in the tradition of the last few years and he has to appoint someone from this class.
In order to make a final decision about whom he might select, he has asked that you prepare a memorandum outlining what you see as the main security threats facing the U.S. today and where you think that he should be heading with respect to U.S. force structures and defense budget allocations. As you undoubtedly know, he has proposed in his budget a substantial increase in the funding of the Department of Defense.
The size of the DoD budget, however, begs the question of exactly where those monies should. Given the range of security issues and tasks that he might ask the U.S. military to undertake, what should be prioritized?
The president is known to prefer shorter memos to longer memos but, given the significance he places on national security issues, he is looking forward to a longer exposition of your positions. You may write as much as you wish but should keep in mind that the president has little patience for verbose and digressive explanations. However, he understands that a sufficient treatment of this issue is unlikely to be less than three pages long. He has promised to give it his full attention.
