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National security

National security encompasses the protection of a sovereign state's citizens, territory, institutions, and core interests from internal subversion, foreign aggression, and other existential threats through integrated measures in national defense, foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, and foreign relations.^[1]^[2] Traditionally centered on military capabilities to deter or defeat armed invasions, the concept has broadened since the late 20th century to address non-state actors, cyber intrusions, disruptions to critical infrastructure, pandemics, and economic coercion, driven by empirical shifts in global threats such as terrorism and technological vulnerabilities.^[3]^[4] In the United States, foundational structures like the National Security Act of 1947 reorganized executive agencies—including the Department of Defense, Central Intelligence Agency, and National Security Council—to centralize decision-making and resource allocation for these multifaceted risks, a model influencing many allied nations' frameworks.^[5]^[6] Key components typically integrate the "3Ds" of defense, diplomacy, and development, alongside intelligence and economic tools, to maintain deterrence, resilience, and alliances amid evolving challenges like weapons proliferation and hybrid warfare.^[7]^[8] Notable controversies arise from the expansion of surveillance powers and the prioritization of certain threats, which have sparked debates over civil liberties and resource misallocation, as evidenced in post-9/11 policy shifts that amplified domestic intelligence roles.^[3]^[9]

Conceptual Foundations

Definition and First-Principles Basis

National security constitutes the measures a sovereign state undertakes to protect its territorial integrity, population, institutions, and capacity for self-determination against threats that could compromise its existence or autonomy. This encompasses defense against military aggression, subversion of internal order, and disruptions to core functions enabling independent governance. ^[10] At its core, it prioritizes the prevention of existential harms, distinguishing it from broader policy goals like economic welfare or ideological promotion, which may support but do not define security.^[11] From first principles, national security arises from the causal reality of human conflict in unstructured environments, where individuals and groups compete for scarce resources, leading to violence absent coercive authority. In the state of nature, as described by Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan (1651), life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" due to mutual insecurity, prompting rational actors to covenant sovereignty to a commonwealth for mutual protection.^[12] ^[13] The state's legitimacy derives from this social contract, wherein subjects authorize absolute sovereign power to enforce peace, deter invaders, and suppress domestic disorder, with security as the primary end of political association. Empirical observation reinforces this: polities that neglect defense against verifiable threats, such as conquest or civil war, dissolve, as seen in historical collapses from unchecked external incursions. This foundation underscores causal realism in threat assessment, focusing on actors with intent and capability to inflict harm—rival states, insurgencies, or internal betrayals—rather than probabilistic or ideological abstractions. Modern formulations, such as the U.S. National Security Act of 1947, operationalize these principles through integrated military, intelligence, and diplomatic apparatuses to preserve sovereignty amid interstate rivalry.^[5] Yet expansions beyond vital interests risk diluting focus, as non-military domains like pandemics or climate, while impactful, do not inherently threaten state survival without direct agency.^[11] Thus, first-principles reasoning demands prioritization of defensible borders, credible deterrence, and internal cohesion as prerequisites for any enduring polity.^[14]

Historical Evolution

The concept of national security crystallized in the 17th century amid the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which devastated Europe through intertwined religious, dynastic, and territorial conflicts, culminating in the Peace of Westphalia that enshrined sovereign equality, territorial integrity, and non-interference as foundational principles for emerging nation-states. Prior to this, security paradigms emphasized imperial expansion, feudal loyalties, or city-state defenses rather than fixed national boundaries, as rulers prioritized personal or dynastic power over institutionalized state preservation.^[11] In the early American republic, figures such as George Washington and Alexander Hamilton employed the term "national security" during the Revolutionary era to denote safeguards against foreign invasion and domestic disorder, linking military readiness to economic vitality and constitutional order without a precise doctrinal framework.^[11] The 19th century extended these ideas through doctrines like Manifest Destiny, which justified territorial expansion to secure trade routes and buffer against European powers, reflecting a blend of defensive and offensive strategies amid industrialization and rising great-power rivalries.^[10] The two world wars accelerated the evolution toward comprehensive national security, as total mobilization revealed interdependencies between military, industrial, and intelligence capabilities; World War II, in particular, prompted Allied powers to integrate economic production with frontline defense, foreshadowing postwar structures.^[5] In the United States, this culminated in the National Security Act of 1947, signed by President Harry S. Truman on July 26, which unified the armed services under a new Department of Defense, established the National Security Council for policy coordination, and created the Central Intelligence Agency to centralize espionage amid emerging Soviet threats.^[5] The classified NSC-68 directive of April 7, 1950, further defined Cold War imperatives, advocating massive military expansion, global alliances like NATO (formed April 4, 1949), and containment to counter communist subversion without direct provocation.^[15] Throughout the Cold War (1947–1991), national security doctrines broadened to encompass ideological containment, nuclear deterrence—as in Eisenhower's 1953 New Look policy emphasizing strategic bombers and ICBMs—and economic resilience against blockades or resource denial, driven by events like the 1948–1949 Berlin Airlift and 1973 oil crisis.^[16] This era marked a shift from purely territorial defense to holistic threat mitigation, including proxy wars and technological arms races, with over 70,000 U.S. nuclear warheads peaking in 1967.^[17] Post-Cold War, the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union prompted reevaluation; the U.S. National Security Strategy of 1993 under George H.W. Bush explicitly integrated democracy promotion and regional stability as security tools, influencing interventions in the Balkans and Middle East.^[16] The September 11, 2001, attacks reframed priorities toward non-state actors, leading to the 2002 U.S. National Security Strategy's preemptive strike doctrine and the 2002 creation of the Department of Homeland Security to address terrorism, proliferation, and asymmetric threats.^[17] By the 2010s, resurgence of peer competitors like China and Russia, coupled with cyber intrusions (e.g., the 2015–2016 Russian election interference) and supply chain disruptions, expanded the domain to include digital infrastructure, critical technologies, and economic coercion, as articulated in strategies emphasizing great-power competition over unilateral primacy.^[16] This progression reflects causal pressures from technological advances, globalization, and shifting power balances, though critics argue overextension dilutes focus on core military capabilities.^[11]

Core Dimensions

Military and Territorial Integrity

Military and territorial integrity constitutes a core pillar of national security, encompassing the preservation of a state's sovereign borders, landmass, and exclusive control over its geographic domain against external coercion or seizure. From first principles, territorial control enables resource extraction, governance, and demographic stability; its erosion undermines state legitimacy and invites cascading vulnerabilities, as aggressors exploit weakness to alter power balances. Empirically, violations of territorial integrity, such as through armed incursions or hybrid tactics, precipitate broader conflicts that degrade national autonomy, as observed in prolonged hybrid warfare scenarios where initial encroachments escalate to full-scale hostilities.^[18]^[19] The military serves as the primary instrument for upholding territorial integrity via deterrence and, if necessary, decisive defense. Deterrence operates on the credible threat of unacceptable retaliation, where potential invaders calculate that gains from aggression would be outweighed by military costs; this relies on visible capabilities like advanced weaponry, troop readiness, and strategic positioning rather than mere declarations.^[20] In practice, states maintain standing armies, naval forces for maritime domains, and air superiority to deny adversaries territorial footholds, with nuclear arsenals providing existential safeguards against existential threats. For instance, the United States, ranked as the world's preeminent military power in 2025, deploys over 200,000 personnel across global bases while sustaining a defense budget exceeding $800 billion annually, enabling power projection to deter encroachments on allied or homeland territories.^[21]^[22] Global military expenditure underscores the prioritization of territorial defense, reaching $2.718 trillion in 2024—a 9.4% real-term increase from the prior year and the highest recorded level—driven by state competitions where territorial ambitions, such as Russia's actions in Ukraine or China's South China Sea claims, necessitate robust countermeasures.^[23] Effective strategies emphasize modernization, including counterspace capabilities to protect satellite-dependent command systems and integrated homeland defense postures that layer forward deterrence with domestic resilience.^[24] However, diverting military resources to non-traditional roles, such as extensive border policing against irregular migration, risks diluting combat lethality and readiness for peer-state invasions, as forces optimized for high-intensity warfare may lack training for sustained domestic enforcement.^[25] Alliances amplify territorial integrity by extending deterrence umbrellas; for example, NATO's collective defense clause has historically deterred direct assaults on member states' territories, though reliance on such pacts demands domestic military sufficiency to avoid free-riding dilemmas. Violations through gray-zone tactics—short of overt war—test resolve, requiring hybrid responses that blend military presence with legal and informational tools to reaffirm boundaries without escalating to full conflict. Ultimately, causal realism dictates that military atrophy invites predation, as evidenced by deterrence failures where perceived weakness emboldens revisionist powers seeking territorial revision.^[26]^[27]

Economic Independence and Resilience

Economic independence refers to a nation's capacity to produce essential goods and services domestically or through diversified, reliable alliances, minimizing reliance on potential adversaries for critical inputs that could be weaponized in conflicts.^[28] This dimension of national security gained prominence in the 2017 U.S. National Security Strategy, which explicitly stated that "economic security is national security," emphasizing how vulnerabilities in trade and supply chains enable coercion, such as export restrictions or sanctions.^[29] Dependence on foreign suppliers for strategic materials undermines deterrence and operational readiness, as disruptions can cascade into military or industrial shortfalls; for instance, concentrated import sources amplify shocks from geopolitical tensions or economic warfare.^[30] Resilience, in turn, involves building redundant systems, stockpiles, and domestic capabilities to withstand such pressures, drawing from first-principles recognition that prolonged access to resources determines sustained power projection.^[31] A primary vulnerability lies in critical minerals, where the United States remains heavily dependent on China, which dominates global supply chains for rare earth elements essential to defense technologies like missiles, fighter jets, and electronics.^[32] China controls approximately 70% of rare earth mining capacity, 90% of separation and processing, and 93% of magnet production as of 2025, creating risks of supply denial that could halt U.S. military production within weeks during escalations.^[33] In December 2024, China imposed export bans on several minerals in retaliation for U.S. technology restrictions, exacerbating these concerns and highlighting how such dominance enables asymmetric leverage without direct kinetic conflict.^[34] This dependence extends to batteries and semiconductors, where Chinese processing bottlenecks threaten electric vehicle production and advanced weaponry, underscoring causal links between resource control and strategic autonomy.^[35] Broader supply chain fragilities compound these risks, as evidenced by heightened geographical concentration in imports, which has increased vulnerability to exporter-specific shocks amid rising geopolitical coercion.^[36] The COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine exposed how just-in-time manufacturing models falter under stress, with U.S. industries facing delays in semiconductors and energy components due to overreliance on Asian hubs.^[37] Economic sanctions, while a tool for U.S. leverage—such as those targeting Iran's nuclear program or Russian aggression—can boomerang if domestic resilience is lacking, as retaliatory measures like China's mineral curbs demonstrate the bidirectional nature of economic warfare.^[38] From 2020 to 2025, global economic restrictions surged fourfold annually, reflecting a shift where nations treat supply chains as extensions of military strategy.^[39] To enhance resilience, policies have focused on diversification and reshoring, including the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which allocated $52 billion to bolster domestic semiconductor production, reducing exposure to Taiwanese and Chinese vulnerabilities.^[40] The Promoting Resilient Supply Chains Act of 2025 mandates assessments of over 40 indicators across 431 industries to identify risks and prioritize federal investments.^[41] Efforts to onshore critical mineral processing, such as partnerships for rare earth refining, aim to counter China's monopoly, though challenges persist due to environmental regulations and capital costs.^[42] Historical precedents, like the 1973 Arab oil embargo that spurred U.S. energy independence initiatives, illustrate how targeted disruptions catalyze long-term autonomy, but require sustained fiscal commitment to avoid recurring dependencies.^[31]

Critical Mineral	U.S. Import Dependence on China (%)	Key National Security Applications
Rare Earth Elements	80+	Magnets in F-35 jets, precision-guided munitions^[43]
Graphite	90+	Battery anodes for drones, submarines^[44]
Antimony	50+ (rising)	Flame retardants in military gear, alloys^[45]

These metrics highlight the urgency of decoupling from adversarial dominance to preserve operational freedom in protracted conflicts.^[46]

Cyber and Informational Security

Cyber security in national security encompasses the protection of critical infrastructure, military networks, and government systems from unauthorized access, data exfiltration, and disruptive attacks by adversarial actors. State-sponsored operations, particularly from China and Russia, represent the most persistent threats, focusing on espionage to steal intellectual property and pre-position malware for potential wartime sabotage. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment, People's Republic of China (PRC) actors have embedded cyber capabilities in U.S. systems to enable destructive attacks during conflicts, targeting sectors like energy, water, and transportation.^[47] The 2025 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community highlights that these intrusions often evade detection for months, allowing adversaries to map networks and exfiltrate terabytes of data annually.^[48] Notable campaigns include PRC-linked groups such as Volt Typhoon, which since mid-2023 has compromised routers and devices in U.S. critical infrastructure to maintain persistent access for future disruptions, as detailed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).^[49] Similarly, Salt Typhoon, another PRC operation, infiltrated U.S. telecommunications providers in 2024, enabling broad surveillance and espionage against government and private targets.^[49] Russian actors have conducted parallel efforts, including malware deployments against Ukrainian infrastructure spilling over to NATO allies, with tactics adaptable to U.S. systems. These operations prioritize stealth over immediate disruption, reflecting a strategy of long-term positioning amid great-power competition. In 2024, criminal-inspired attacks on U.S. water utilities, potentially emulating state tactics, underscored vulnerabilities in under-resourced sectors.^[48] Informational security addresses foreign attempts to manipulate narratives and public discourse through disinformation—deliberately false or misleading content spread to deceive audiences and achieve strategic objectives. Adversaries like Russia and China deploy these tactics to amplify societal divisions, erode trust in democratic institutions, and influence policy without kinetic force. A 2024 U.S. Government Accountability Office report notes that such campaigns weaken democratic resilience by fostering political instability and interpersonal conflict, with effects persisting beyond initial dissemination.^[50] Russia's operations, including those targeting U.S. elections, have involved coordinated social media amplification and state media proxies to promote polarizing content, as analyzed in State Department assessments of foreign adversary efforts.^[51] Chinese influence activities, often via "united front" networks, blend malinformation—factual data distorted for harm—with covert funding of sympathetic outlets to shape perceptions on trade, technology, and human rights. The convergence of cyber and informational domains forms hybrid threats, where digital intrusions facilitate disinformation delivery, such as through hacked networks leaking manipulated data to sow chaos. For instance, PRC espionage on U.S. telecoms enables targeted surveillance that informs tailored propaganda campaigns.^[49] These efforts exploit open societies' information ecosystems, with impacts including economic losses from IP theft—estimated in billions annually—and degraded national cohesion during crises. Effective countermeasures require robust attribution, public-private partnerships for resilience, and international norms to deter escalation, though enforcement remains challenged by attribution difficulties and adversary deniability. Government reports emphasize that while non-state actors contribute, nation-states drive the most consequential threats due to their resources and strategic intent.^[48]^[47]

Energy and Resource Autonomy

Energy and resource autonomy encompasses a nation's ability to secure sufficient domestic or allied supplies of energy and essential raw materials, thereby insulating critical infrastructure, military capabilities, and economic output from adversarial manipulation or global market shocks. Dependence on foreign sources exposes states to leverage, as suppliers can impose embargoes or price manipulations during conflicts; for instance, the 1973 Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries embargo against the United States and allies led to quadrupled oil prices, widespread shortages, and a global recession that persisted until 1975.^[52] Similarly, Europe's heavy reliance on Russian natural gas—peaking at 40% of EU imports in 2021—allowed Moscow to curtail flows after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, forcing emergency measures like coal plant reactivations and LNG imports that inflated energy costs by up to 300% in some countries.^[53] These episodes underscore that energy vulnerabilities amplify geopolitical risks, potentially constraining military mobilization or civilian resilience in crises.^[54] In the energy domain, fossil fuels remain central to autonomy due to their density and scalability for transport and power generation. The United States transitioned from net importer to net total energy exporter in 2019, driven by hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling in shale formations, which boosted domestic oil production to 13.3 million barrels per day by 2023.^[55] By 2024, U.S. primary energy production reached a record 103 quadrillion British thermal units, with exports comprising 30% of output and net exports hitting 9.3 quadrillion British thermal units—the highest on record—primarily via liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments that enhanced allied security while reducing domestic exposure to imports.^[56]^[57] Nuclear power contributes baseload reliability, with the U.S. operating 93 reactors supplying 18% of electricity in 2023, though regulatory hurdles have limited expansion compared to fossil fuel agility. Renewables like wind and solar, while growing to 13% of U.S. generation in 2023, introduce intermittency risks without sufficient storage, and their supply chains often depend on foreign components, potentially undermining net security gains.^[58] Resource autonomy extends to critical minerals vital for defense technologies, such as rare earth elements used in fighter jet magnets, missile guidance systems, and electronics. China controls over 60% of global mining and 85% of processing for rare earths as of 2024, creating a strategic chokepoint; U.S. imports met 100% of domestic demand for 14 of 50 critical minerals in 2023, exposing supply chains to export restrictions that Beijing has wielded as leverage, including a 2010 embargo on Japan amid territorial disputes.^[32]^[59] This dependence threatens military readiness, as evidenced by assessments that disruptions could halt production of key weapons systems within months. Efforts to mitigate include the U.S. Department of Defense's 2020 strategy to stockpile minerals and fund domestic processing, alongside international partnerships like the Minerals Security Partnership, though progress remains slow with U.S. rare earth mining output at under 43,000 metric tons in 2023 versus China's 240,000.^[60] Achieving greater autonomy demands policies prioritizing domestic extraction, refining capacity, and technological innovation over import substitution via unreliable partners. For energy, maintaining permissive regulatory environments for drilling and pipelines has proven effective, as U.S. net exports deterred potential adversaries by flooding global markets with LNG post-2022. Resource strategies similarly emphasize mapping reserves—such as the U.S. Geological Survey's identification of viable domestic deposits—and incentivizing private investment, countering China's state-subsidized dominance that distorts markets through overproduction. Failure to advance these measures risks cascading failures in high-tech sectors, where causal linkages from raw material scarcity directly impair national defense postures.^[61]

Border Control and Demographic Stability

Secure borders constitute a foundational element of national security by regulating entry to prevent the infiltration of individuals posing direct threats, such as terrorists or criminals, while preserving demographic equilibrium essential for societal cohesion and resource allocation. In the United States, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported 7,181 southwest border apprehensions in March 2025, reflecting a decline from prior peaks but underscoring ongoing vulnerabilities; since fiscal year 2021, agents have encountered 394 individuals on the terrorist watchlist between ports of entry.^[62]^[63] Over 250 such encounters occurred in fiscal years 2023-2024 alone, with at least 99 released into the interior pending proceedings, highlighting enforcement gaps that could enable adversarial actors to exploit migration flows.^[64] Effective border control thus mitigates hybrid threats where non-state actors blend with economic migrants, as evidenced by increased watchlist hits correlating with overall encounter surges prior to 2025 policy shifts.^[47] Demographic stability underpins national security by maintaining a population aligned with the host society's cultural, linguistic, and institutional norms, which foster trust and collective defense capabilities; unchecked influxes disrupt this balance, accelerating shifts toward lower native birth rates—often below replacement levels of 2.1 children per woman in Western nations—and elevating reliance on high-fertility immigrant cohorts from disparate regions. In Europe, the 2015-2016 refugee wave, involving over 1 million arrivals primarily from the Middle East and Africa, exemplifies how rapid demographic reconfiguration strains integration, with native fertility averaging 1.5 in the EU as of 2023, contrasted by immigrant rates exceeding 2.5 in initial generations.^[65] Such changes risk forming parallel communities with reduced intergroup trust, as Robert Putnam's research on ethnic diversity demonstrates short- to medium-term declines in social capital, including civic engagement and mutual reliance critical for security resilience.^[66] Empirical evidence links porous borders to elevated security risks through correlated rises in crime and fiscal burdens that erode public support for defense priorities. Peer-reviewed analyses of large migrant waves in Europe, such as late-1990s asylum inflows to the UK, reveal modest increases in property crime rates attributable to newcomers, with a 1% migrant population rise associating with 0.1% upticks in robberies and thefts, though violent crime effects remain negligible in aggregate.^[67]^[68] In the U.S., undocumented immigrants impose a lifetime net fiscal drain of approximately $68,000 per person due to welfare utilization outpacing tax contributions, exacerbating state and local budgets amid 2023 immigration surges costing $9.2 billion net.^[69]^[70] These dynamics, compounded by institutional tendencies in academia to underreport adverse integration outcomes—often prioritizing narrative alignment over raw data—underscore the causal pathway from lax enforcement to diminished national vitality, where resource diversion and cultural fragmentation weaken the societal fabric requisite for confronting external threats.^[65]^[71]

Ideological and Cultural Defense

Ideological and cultural defense encompasses strategies to preserve a nation's core values, historical narratives, and cultural cohesion against internal fragmentation or external subversion that could erode the societal unity necessary for collective self-preservation. This dimension of national security recognizes that military and economic defenses rely on a populace motivated by shared identity and ideological commitment; without it, states become vulnerable to exploitation by adversaries who target divisions through propaganda, demographic shifts, or cultural relativism. Empirical analyses link strong national identity to heightened defense willingness, as fragmented societies exhibit reduced resilience to hybrid threats.^[72]^[73] Historical precedents underscore the causal role of ideological defense in state survival. During the Cold War, Western powers countered Soviet communism not merely through arms but via institutional promotion of liberal democratic ideals, cultural exports like media and education, which fortified domestic resolve against Marxist infiltration; declassified U.S. National Security Council documents from 1947 onward emphasized ideological warfare as integral to containment. Post-Cold War, Samuel Huntington's 1993 thesis posited that global conflicts would increasingly align along civilizational lines—Western, Islamic, Sinic—rather than ideological ones, arguing that cultural incompatibility drives fault-line wars, as evidenced by Balkan conflicts in the 1990s where ethnic identities fueled secessionist violence despite shared communist heritage.^[74]^[75] Contemporary threats to cultural cohesion include unassimilated mass migration forming parallel societies, which studies correlate with heightened internal security risks through eroded trust and parallel legal norms; for example, European data from 2015-2020 show correlations between rapid demographic changes and rising parallel economies in nations like Sweden and Germany, weakening national solidarity. Globalization and digital propaganda further dilute indigenous traditions, prompting protectionist responses in states like China, where "ideological defense lines" against Western "peaceful evolution" tactics are institutionalized via education and media controls to maintain regime stability. In democratic contexts, identity politics and multiculturalism without enforced assimilation have been critiqued for fostering zero-sum competitions over resources and narratives, potentially inviting external actors to amplify divisions, as seen in Russian influence operations during the 2016 U.S. election targeting cultural flashpoints.^[76]^[77]^[78] Effective countermeasures prioritize causal mechanisms over symptomatic fixes. Nations employ civic education curricula emphasizing historical achievements and shared sacrifices—such as Israel's mandatory service and narrative-building post-1948—to cultivate attachment; surveys indicate this boosts defense mobilization rates by reinforcing collective efficacy. Border and immigration policies mandating cultural integration, coupled with media regulations against foreign disinformation, address root vulnerabilities; Taiwan's 2020s cognitive warfare defenses, including public campaigns against Chinese United Front tactics, exemplify proactive ideological hardening, reducing susceptibility to subversion as measured by polling shifts in pro-independence sentiment from 2020 to 2024. Realist frameworks stress avoiding naive universalism, instead leveraging civilizational self-awareness to build alliances with kin cultures while quarantining incompatible ideologies, thereby sustaining the internal cohesion that underpins all security apparatuses.^[79]^[80]

Primary Threats

Competition from Peer States

Peer state competition in national security encompasses strategic rivalries among nations possessing comparable military, economic, and technological capacities, enabling them to contest core interests through direct military challenges, economic coercion, or influence operations. Unlike asymmetric threats from non-state actors, peer competitors can impose symmetric pressures, such as territorial incursions or arms races, that risk escalation to large-scale conflict. This dynamic has reemerged as the central paradigm of interstate relations since 2017, driven by the revisionist ambitions of powers like China and Russia, which seek to reshape global order in ways that undermine the sovereignty and security of established states.^[81]^[82] China exemplifies peer competition through its rapid military modernization under the People's Liberation Army (PLA), which has prioritized capabilities for regional dominance and power projection. In 2024, China's military expenditure reached $314 billion, the second-highest globally after the United States, funding expansions like the world's largest navy by number of hulls (over 370 ships) and advanced hypersonic missiles capable of threatening U.S. assets in the Indo-Pacific.^[23]^[83] The PLA's integration of military-civil fusion leverages civilian tech sectors for dual-use advancements, enhancing information warfare and mechanization toward a "world-class" force by 2049, as outlined in strategic plans. This buildup supports assertive actions, including militarization of artificial islands in the South China Sea and frequent incursions near Taiwan, heightening risks of confrontation with the U.S. and allies.^[84]^[85] Economic dimensions amplify the threat, with export controls on rare-earth minerals and tech restrictions signaling a shift to protracted rivalry, where China exploits supply chain dependencies to erode adversaries' resilience.^[86]^[87] Russia represents another peer threat, leveraging its nuclear arsenal—estimated at over 5,500 warheads—and conventional forces to coerce neighbors and challenge NATO's eastern flank. Military spending hit $149 billion in 2024, third globally, sustaining operations amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022, which demonstrated Russia's willingness to employ hybrid tactics including cyberattacks, disinformation, and territorial annexation to weaken Western cohesion.^[23]^[88] NATO identifies Russia as the most significant direct threat to member security, citing shadow warfare like sabotage and influence operations that blur lines between peace and conflict.^[89]^[90] These actions, rooted in Russia's 2021 National Security Strategy emphasizing protection of its sphere of influence, underscore peer competition's potential for escalation, including risks of nuclear brinkmanship or spillover into NATO territory.^[91] Such rivalries drive global arms races and alliance realignments, with top spenders—the U.S. ($997 billion), China, and Russia—accounting for over 50% of worldwide military outlays in 2024, fueling innovations in domains like cyber and space. Peer competition demands integrated strategies balancing deterrence against revisionist gains, as unilateral concessions risk emboldening aggressors while overextension invites exploitation of internal divisions. Empirical trends indicate sustained increases in expenditures, with Europe and the Middle East also surging in response, highlighting the cascading effects on global stability.^[92]^[88]^[93]

Non-State and Hybrid Actors

Non-state actors, including terrorist organizations, transnational criminal networks, and insurgent groups, represent persistent threats to national security by operating outside traditional state frameworks and exploiting governance vacuums. Groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS have demonstrated capacity for high-impact attacks, with ISIS controlling territory across Iraq and Syria from 2014 to 2019, resulting in thousands of deaths and regional instability.^[94] Violent non-state actors adapt rapidly to counterterrorism measures, sustaining operations through decentralized structures and ideological recruitment, thereby challenging state monopolies on violence.^[95] Cyber-enabled non-state actors, particularly ransomware gangs, have inflicted economic damage exceeding billions annually; for instance, the CL0P group exploited vulnerabilities in Progress Software's MOVEit platform in 2023, compromising data from numerous organizations.^[96] These actors often prioritize financial gain but can disrupt critical infrastructure, as seen in attacks on healthcare and energy sectors, amplifying vulnerabilities without direct territorial ambitions. Terrorism remains concentrated in regions like Africa, designated as the global epicenter in 2025 assessments, with groups leveraging ungoverned spaces for training and logistics.^[97] Hybrid actors integrate non-state tactics with state-like resources, blurring lines between conventional warfare and subversion to evade attribution and escalation thresholds. NATO defines hybrid threats as coordinated overt and covert actions, including disinformation campaigns, cyber intrusions, and proxy militias, often below armed conflict thresholds.^[98] Russia's operations in Crimea (2014) exemplified this through "little green men"—unmarked forces—combined with information operations, enabling territorial gains without full-scale invasion.^[99] State sponsorship enhances hybrid threats' potency, as major powers supply advanced capabilities to proxies; Russian-backed groups have conducted sabotage and influence operations across Europe, with incidents like the 2015 TV5Monde cyberattack disrupting broadcasts.^[100] Such tactics exploit target vulnerabilities, such as energy dependencies, as in hybrid pressures on Baltic Sea infrastructure noted in 2025 analyses.^[101] The difficulty in attributing hybrid actions—due to deniability—complicates deterrence, allowing actors to test resolve incrementally while avoiding direct confrontation.^[102]

Emerging Technological Risks

Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, and synthetic biology pose novel risks to national security by amplifying adversaries' capabilities in cyber operations, cryptography disruption, and biological warfare, respectively. These technologies enable asymmetric threats where non-state actors or revisionist powers can exploit dual-use innovations to bypass traditional defenses, as noted in the U.S. Director of National Intelligence's 2025 Annual Threat Assessment, which emphasizes their role in transforming existing threats into new classes of attacks.^[48] Unlike conventional weapons, these risks stem from rapid scalability and diffusion, where breakthroughs in one domain—such as AI accelerating biotech design—compound vulnerabilities across others.^[103] AI systems heighten national security risks by democratizing sophisticated cyberattacks, enabling deepfake propaganda, and powering lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS). For instance, AI lowers barriers to phishing, malware generation, and social engineering at scale, with state actors like China and Russia integrating it into hybrid warfare to manipulate information environments.^[104] The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) warns that unchecked AI proliferation could create "wonder weapons" and systemic power shifts, particularly if artificial general intelligence (AGI) emerges, allowing superhuman decision-making in conflicts.^[105] In 2024, AI-driven disinformation campaigns surged, with over 200 documented instances tied to foreign influence operations, underscoring the need for defensive AI safeguards amid U.S. lags in deployment compared to peers.^[106] Quantum computing threatens to render current encryption obsolete, exposing classified data and critical infrastructure to "harvest now, decrypt later" attacks. Algorithms like Shor's could break widely used standards such as RSA and ECC, with adversaries potentially stockpiling encrypted traffic for future decryption; the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) identifies this as a high-risk vector for the 55 National Critical Functions.^[107] NIST finalized its first three post-quantum cryptography standards in August 2024—ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA—to migrate systems, but full implementation lags, leaving systems vulnerable as quantum prototypes advance in labs like those in China.^[108] By 2025, bipartisan U.S. legislation urged accelerated assessments of quantum-induced cybersecurity gaps, highlighting risks to military communications and financial networks.^[109] Synthetic biology and gene-editing tools, such as CRISPR, facilitate the engineering of novel pathogens or bioweapons, raising bioterrorism risks through accessible DIY labs and dual-use research. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) assesses that synthetic biology could enable non-state actors to enhance pathogen virulence or create de novo agents, with global dissemination of protocols amplifying threats post-COVID-19.^[110] Convergence with AI exacerbates this, as machine learning models design optimized biothreats; a 2024 Carnegie Endowment analysis prioritizes AI guardrails to curb misuse, noting over 100 gene-editing incidents with security implications since 2020.^[111] U.S. intelligence reports from 2025 flag state-sponsored biotech programs in adversaries as vectors for engineered pandemics, underscoring vulnerabilities in biosecurity screening amid rapid commercialization.^[112]

Strategic Approaches

Domestic Policy Frameworks

Domestic policy frameworks constitute the internal legal, institutional, and strategic architectures that states employ to mitigate threats to territorial integrity, critical infrastructure, and societal cohesion, distinct from but complementary to external deterrence measures. These frameworks derive authority from constitutional provisions and statutes that delineate executive powers for security operations, as established in the United States since George Washington's 1793 Proclamation of Neutrality, which affirmed presidential initiative in foreign affairs with implications for domestic enforcement.^[113] Effective frameworks prioritize risk-based resource allocation to avoid overreaction to terrorism, which can amplify adversaries' impact by diverting billions in federal spending—such as the post-9/11 escalation where al Qaeda's $500,000 investment prompted disproportionate U.S. outlays on agencies like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA).^[114] Central to these frameworks are inter-agency coordination for intelligence sharing and emergency response, often embodied in dedicated homeland security entities responsible for six critical mission areas: intelligence and warning, border and transportation security, domestic counterterrorism, protecting critical infrastructure, defending against catastrophic threats, and emergency preparedness.^[115] Legislation such as anti-espionage statutes and post-9/11 reforms enable domestic surveillance and interdiction, but must navigate congressional oversight to prevent executive overreach, as highlighted in Supreme Court rulings like Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that reaffirmed legislative war powers.^[113] Frameworks emphasize federal focus on unique competencies like border regularization to interdict threats, while devolving infrastructure protection to states, localities, and private entities to enhance efficiency and adaptability.^[114] Resilience-building policies form another pillar, integrating domestic industrial reinvestment, supply chain fortification, and civil defense to withstand hybrid threats like cyberattacks on infrastructure, as evidenced by the 2024 Volt Typhoon intrusions targeting U.S. energy and transportation sectors.^[116] Recommendations include expanding roles for agencies like FEMA in anticipatory planning, establishing state-level resilience officers, and fostering societal preparedness through civic programs and education, drawing from historical models such as Cold War-era civil defense drills and contemporary examples like Finland's comprehensive security approach.^[116] Such measures treat domestic manufacturing depth as a security imperative to reduce vulnerabilities to economic coercion. Balancing security imperatives with civil liberties remains a core challenge, as expansive policies like warrantless wiretapping or indefinite detention—continued from the Bush to Obama administrations—risk eroding public trust and long-term legitimacy.^[113]^[114] Strategic frameworks advocate prohibiting practices such as torture, secret prisons, and military tribunals for domestic actors, instead promoting transparent, rights-respecting prevention to sustain domestic support for security efforts.^[114] This equilibrium, rooted in constitutional "invitation to struggle" between branches, ensures policies remain robust without inviting internal backlash that adversaries could exploit.^[113]

Deterrence and Alliances

Deterrence in national security strategy involves persuading potential adversaries that the costs of aggression would outweigh any prospective gains, primarily through credible threats of retaliation or denial of objectives. This approach relies on demonstrating resolve, capability, and communication to influence enemy decision-making before conflict erupts.^[117]^[118] The U.S. Department of Defense identifies deterrence as its core mission, emphasizing prevention of attacks via combat-credible forces and integrated tools of national power.^[119] Empirical evidence from the Cold War supports its efficacy in averting direct superpower confrontation, as mutually assured destruction (MAD) doctrines between the United States and Soviet Union ensured neither initiated nuclear war despite ideological and proxy conflicts.^[120] Nuclear deterrence, a subset of this strategy, centers on maintaining survivable second-strike capabilities to impose unacceptable damage, thereby stabilizing crises through fear of escalation. During the Cold War, this framework contributed to over four decades without nuclear exchange between major powers, though it did not preclude regional wars or proxy engagements.^[121]^[122] Extended nuclear deterrence extends this umbrella to allies, as in U.S. commitments to NATO members and Indo-Pacific partners like Japan and South Korea, where forward-deployed assets and joint exercises signal readiness to respond.^[123]^[124] However, deterrence's limits are evident in non-nuclear thresholds, such as Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, where nuclear signaling deterred direct NATO intervention but failed to prevent aggression against a non-member.^[125] Alliances amplify deterrence by pooling resources, sharing intelligence, and distributing risks, creating collective thresholds that raise the perceived costs of attacking any member. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) exemplifies this through Article 5, which deems an armed attack on one ally an attack on all, obligating mutual defense and deterring aggression via unified response potential.^[126] Invoked once after the September 11, 2001, attacks, it facilitated allied support in Afghanistan, reinforcing the pact's credibility despite varying member contributions.^[127] U.S.-led alliances integrate deterrence across domains, incorporating diplomatic, economic, and military levers to counter peer competitors like China and Russia, with exercises and basing agreements enhancing interoperability.^[128]^[129] In practice, alliances mitigate asymmetric threats by extending deterrence credibly, as seen in NATO's post-2014 enhanced forward presence in Eastern Europe, which includes multinational battlegroups to signal rapid reinforcement against Russian incursions.^[130] Yet, challenges persist, including burden-sharing disparities—where some allies underinvest in defense spending—and doubts over extended guarantees amid emerging technologies like hypersonics that compress response times.^[131] Effective alliances demand sustained investment in capabilities and resolve, as deterrence erodes when adversaries perceive disunity or hesitancy, underscoring the causal link between alliance cohesion and strategic stability.^[132]^[133]

Intelligence and Surveillance Mechanisms

Intelligence and surveillance mechanisms form a core component of national security strategies, enabling states to gather, analyze, and act on information about potential threats from foreign adversaries, non-state actors, and internal risks. These systems prioritize the collection of actionable intelligence through diverse modalities, including human sources, electronic intercepts, and imagery analysis, to provide decision-makers with foresight into hostile intentions and capabilities. Effective implementation requires integration across agencies, robust analytical frameworks, and technological infrastructure to process vast data volumes while minimizing errors from incomplete or biased inputs.^[134]^[135] Key intelligence disciplines encompass human intelligence (HUMINT), which relies on clandestine human sources for insights into adversary plans; signals intelligence (SIGINT), involving interception of communications and electronic emissions; and measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT), focusing on physical signatures like chemical or nuclear traces. Geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) utilizes satellite and aerial imagery for terrain and movement analysis, while open-source intelligence (OSINT) aggregates publicly available data. These mechanisms support counterintelligence efforts to detect and neutralize espionage, as outlined in strategies emphasizing protection against foreign intelligence threats through proactive disruption and resilience-building.^[136]^[137] Surveillance technologies amplify these capabilities, deploying tools such as cyber monitoring for network intrusions, unmanned aerial systems for real-time tracking, and bulk data collection from global communications. In national security contexts, foreign-focused surveillance aids in preempting attacks by identifying patterns in terrorist financing or militant recruitment, though domestic applications demand stricter legal boundaries to avoid overreach. Empirical assessments indicate that while surveillance enhances situational awareness, its deterrent effect on terrorism is comparatively limited versus conventional crime, with studies showing minimal displacement of attacks due to adaptive terrorist tactics.^[138]^[139] Strategic deployment involves balancing collection with analysis to produce timely assessments, often coordinated through centralized bodies that fuse inputs from military, diplomatic, and law enforcement channels. Challenges include technological proliferation enabling adversaries to evade detection via encryption or disinformation, necessitating investments in artificial intelligence for pattern recognition. Oversight frameworks, such as those mandating privacy safeguards in intelligence operations, aim to align surveillance with legal norms while preserving operational efficacy against evolving threats like hybrid warfare.^[140]^[141]

Implementation in Major Powers

United States

The United States maintains a comprehensive national security apparatus centered on preserving sovereignty, deterring aggression from peer competitors like China and Russia, countering non-state threats such as terrorism, and addressing hybrid risks including cyber intrusions and supply chain vulnerabilities. This framework integrates military projection, intelligence gathering, alliance commitments, and domestic protective measures, guided by executive directives and statutory authorities. As of 2025, under the Trump administration, priorities emphasize economic resilience against adversarial trade practices, enhanced border enforcement to mitigate internal threats, and technological superiority to counter emerging risks.^[142]^[143] Central to implementation is the Department of Defense (DoD), which oversees the world's most capable military forces, with a fiscal year 2025 budget request of approximately $850 billion, representing about 3.5% of GDP and enabling global power projection through 11 aircraft carriers, over 1.3 million active-duty personnel, and advanced nuclear deterrence via the triad of land-, sea-, and air-based systems.^[144]^[145] The DoD's strategy focuses on integrated deterrence against peer states, including modernization of hypersonic weapons, space-based assets, and multi-domain operations to address China's military buildup in the Indo-Pacific and Russia's actions in Europe. Domestic policy frameworks incorporate industrial base revitalization to reduce reliance on foreign critical minerals, as evidenced by Section 232 actions imposing tariffs on imports threatening supply chains for defense technologies.^[146] The U.S. Intelligence Community (IC), comprising 18 organizations coordinated by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), executes surveillance and analysis to preempt threats, with key elements including the Central Intelligence Agency for human intelligence, the National Security Agency for signals intelligence, and the Defense Intelligence Agency for military-specific insights.^[137] Post-9/11 reforms under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 enhanced IC integration, enabling operations like the disruption of Iranian nuclear activities and monitoring of Russian hybrid warfare tactics. Recent directives, such as National Security Presidential Memorandum-2 issued in February 2025, reinforce interagency coordination for countering foreign influence operations and domestic extremism networks.^[147] Deterrence relies heavily on alliances and partnerships, with NATO serving as the cornerstone for transatlantic security, where U.S. commitments under Article 5 have deterred direct aggression since 1949, bolstered by over 100,000 U.S. troops stationed in Europe as of 2025. In the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. implements layered deterrence through the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad)—involving the U.S., Japan, Australia, and India—for joint exercises and technology sharing, and the AUKUS pact with Australia and the United Kingdom, which facilitates nuclear-powered submarine transfers to Australia by the early 2030s to counter Chinese naval expansion. These mechanisms extend U.S. reach without formal treaty obligations in the latter cases, prioritizing interoperability over expansive mutual defense pacts.^[148]^[149] Homeland security implementation falls primarily under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), established in 2002 to unify efforts against terrorism, border incursions, and cyber threats, managing agencies like U.S. Customs and Border Protection for immigration enforcement and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency for critical infrastructure defense. Executive actions in January 2025 directed enhanced vetting of aliens posing national security risks, including expedited removals of those linked to terrorism, reflecting a causal emphasis on physical barriers and legal enforcement to prevent internal destabilization from uncontrolled migration.^[150]^[151] A September 2025 memorandum further outlined strategies to dismantle domestic political violence networks, integrating DHS intelligence with FBI counterterrorism to address ideologically motivated threats.^[152]

China

China's national security framework, centralized under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since the establishment of the National Security Commission in November 2013, integrates political, military, economic, and technological dimensions under a "holistic" approach championed by Xi Jinping. The Commission, chaired by Xi with vice chairs including Premier Li Qiang and National People's Congress Chairman Zhao Leji, coordinates policy across agencies to prioritize regime stability—termed "political security"—as the core of national security, encompassing 11 domains such as homeland, military, cultural, and societal security. This structure reflects Xi's 2014 articulation of comprehensive security, formalized in the 2015 National Security Law, which mandates all organizations, citizens, and foreigners in China to safeguard state interests, including through intelligence reporting and security reviews of investments and data flows.^[153]^[154]^[155] Domestically, implementation emphasizes internal control via expansive surveillance and legal mechanisms. The Ministry of State Security (MSS) and Ministry of Public Security (MPS) oversee political surveillance, tracking "key persons" through phone tracking, DNA databases, and facial recognition systems deployed nationwide, with intensified application in Xinjiang for monitoring ethnic minorities. The social credit system, integrated with data from over 600 million cameras by 2023, enforces compliance by restricting travel and opportunities for those deemed threats, while the 2021 Data Security Law and 2023 updates require localization of critical data and government oversight of exports. These measures, justified as protecting sovereignty, have enabled mass detentions—estimated at over 1 million Uyghurs since 2017—and suppression of dissent, as internal documents reveal tech firms like those in Silicon Valley aiding system development.^[156]^[157]^[158] Militarily, China advances People's Liberation Army (PLA) modernization to assert territorial claims, with defense spending reaching approximately $296 billion in 2024 and nuclear warheads expanding to 600 by mid-2025, projected to exceed 1,000 by 2030. Focus areas include hypersonic missiles, aircraft carriers (three operational by 2025), and anti-access/area-denial capabilities targeting Taiwan and the South China Sea, where artificial island bases enhance projection. The 2025 National Security White Paper underscores integration of military-civil fusion, leveraging civilian tech for defense, amid preparations for potential conflict by 2027.^[84]^[83]^[159] In cyberspace and externally, strategy treats digital space as sovereign territory, per the 2015 National Cyberspace Security Strategy and 2023 Cybersecurity Law revisions, mandating critical infrastructure protection and promoting indigenous tech like Huawei amid U.S. restrictions. Beijing exports surveillance tools via Belt and Road Initiative partnerships, while the Global Security Initiative—launched 2022—seeks influence through non-interference pacts, though U.S. assessments highlight offensive cyber operations by PLA units like APT41 for espionage and IP theft. This paradigm prioritizes CCP control over liberal norms, with implementation yielding rapid capability gains but raising global tensions.^[160]^[161]^[162]

Russia

Russia's national security framework, as outlined in the 2021 National Security Strategy signed by President Vladimir Putin on July 2, emphasizes protecting sovereignty against external threats including NATO expansion, information warfare, and economic pressures, while prioritizing internal stability through defense modernization and countering extremism. The strategy identifies the United States and its allies as primary adversaries attempting to undermine Russia's influence via military buildup near its borders and support for regime change operations, framing national security as requiring a balanced approach across military, informational, and technological domains.^[163] Implementation involves integrating these principles into state policy, with a focus on achieving strategic parity through nuclear deterrence and conventional force enhancements amid ongoing geopolitical confrontations. Militarily, Russia implements its security doctrine via hybrid and conventional operations, exemplified by the February 24, 2022, special military operation in Ukraine, which official statements describe as a preemptive measure to neutralize NATO's eastward encroachment and prevent the deployment of offensive weapons near Russian borders. By 2023, Russian forces adapted defensively in Ukraine, combining maneuver tactics with fortified positions to counter Ukrainian counteroffensives, revealing doctrinal shifts toward attrition warfare and drone integration despite initial logistical shortcomings.^[164] Expenditures on defense reached approximately 6.7% of GDP in 2024, funding reconstitution efforts including expanded production of artillery and missiles to sustain operations projected into 2026.^[165] Internally, the Federal Security Service (FSB) executes core functions in counterintelligence, border protection, and suppressing domestic threats like terrorism and extremism, as mandated by federal law establishing it as the primary agency for implementing national security policy.^[166] The FSB has intensified operations against perceived foreign-backed subversion, including arrests related to espionage and information sabotage, particularly since the Ukraine conflict escalated cross-border activities.^[167] Nuclear deterrence remains pivotal, with the November 19, 2024, update to the Basic Principles of State Policy on Nuclear Deterrence lowering thresholds by authorizing responses to conventional attacks on Russian territory or annexed regions like Crimea, and treating aggression by non-nuclear states supported by nuclear powers as a joint assault.^[168] This revision, previewed by Putin on September 25, 2024, underscores reliance on Russia's approximately 5,580 warheads for coercion and escalation dominance, amid Western arms provisions to Ukraine.^[169] Internationally, Russia bolsters security through alliances like the Collective Security Treaty Organization and partnerships with China, countering isolation from Western sanctions via economic diversification and hybrid tools such as cyber operations attributed to state actors.^[170]

India

India's national security framework emphasizes credible deterrence, military modernization, and strategic autonomy amid persistent threats from Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and Chinese border encroachments. Although lacking a publicly released formal National Security Strategy document as of 2025, the country's approach integrates de facto policies through institutions like the National Security Advisory Board and Cabinet Committee on Security, prioritizing territorial integrity, internal stability, and regional influence in the Indo-Pacific. Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan stated in May 2025 that it is "incorrect" to claim India has no such strategy, highlighting operational doctrines shaped by two-front war contingencies and asymmetric threats. Efforts to codify a comprehensive doctrine, initiated in 2018 under National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, neared completion by September 2025, focusing on integrated theater commands and defense self-reliance.^[171]^[172] The Indian Armed Forces, with over 1.4 million active personnel, rank fourth globally in military strength per the 2025 Global Firepower Index, underscoring capabilities in manpower, equipment, and logistics despite budgetary constraints. Key enhancements include the October 2025 approval of 790 billion rupees ($9 billion) for missile systems and other acquisitions to bolster air defense and precision strike options. Nuclear doctrine maintains a "no first use" policy against nuclear-armed states, committing to massive retaliation only in response to nuclear attack on Indian territory or forces anywhere, while pledging non-use against non-nuclear states; this supports a credible minimum deterrent estimated at 160-170 warheads. Border infrastructure development, such as roads and airfields along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, has accelerated since the 2020 Galwan clash, enabling rapid troop mobilization.^[173]^[174]^[175] External threats dominate, with Pakistan-linked terrorism persisting as a core challenge; a April 2025 attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, killing 25 civilians, triggered cross-border tensions and underscored Islamabad's support for groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba. India responded with surgical strikes, as in the 2019 Balakot precedent, asserting self-defense rights without escalating to full conflict. Against China, disputes along the 3,488 km LAC led to disengagement talks resuming ambitiously since June 2025, including troop pullbacks and patrols in friction areas like Depsang and Demchok, alongside symbolic gestures like direct flights restarting in October 2025. However, mutual mistrust endures, with Beijing's infrastructure buildup in Aksai Chin and India's ati-vishisht border deployments reflecting unresolved territorial claims from 1962.^[176]^[177]^[178] Strategic partnerships balance traditional ties with Russia—supplier of 60% of arms imports—with deepening Quad engagements alongside the US, Japan, and Australia to counterbalance Chinese assertiveness in the Indian Ocean. The Quad, revived in 2017, focuses on maritime domain awareness, supply chain resilience, and joint exercises like Malabar, though India avoids formal alliances to preserve strategic flexibility. Domestically, counter-insurgency operations have reduced Naxalite violence in central India by 70% since 2010 peaks, per government data, via integrated civil-military efforts. Cyber and space domains see investments in agencies like the Defence Cyber Agency and Defence Space Agency, addressing hybrid threats amid rising digital dependencies.^[179]^[180]

European Union

The European Union's approach to national security is constrained by its supranational structure, where member states retain sovereignty over defense and foreign policy, leading to implementation through intergovernmental mechanisms like the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). Adopted in 2009 as part of the Lisbon Treaty, the CSDP enables civilian and military missions but lacks unified command or dedicated forces, resulting in over 30 operations since inception, primarily in Africa and the Balkans, with limited scale compared to national militaries. The 2022 Strategic Compass outlines priorities including crisis response, resilience against hybrid threats, capability investment, and partnerships, targeting enhanced readiness by 2030 through rapid deployment capacities of up to 5,000 troops.^[181] Defense cooperation is advanced via Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), launched in 2017 with 47 projects across 26 member states as of 2025, focusing on areas like cyber rapid response teams, maritime surveillance, and missile defense to address capability gaps. The European Defence Agency (EDA) coordinates research and procurement, while the European Defence Fund (EDF) allocates €8 billion from 2021-2027 for joint development, emphasizing technological edge in drones, AI-enabled systems, and cyber defenses. In cybersecurity, the EU Cyber Defence Policy, updated in 2025, promotes mutual assistance and investments via ENISA, responding to incidents like the 2022 ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure, though member states' varying digital maturity hinders unified action. Economic security measures, including the 2023 strategy and 2024 FDI screening regulation, aim to mitigate risks from dependencies on non-EU suppliers in semiconductors and rare earths, with screening mechanisms covering 27 member states by 2025.^[182]^[183] Implementation faces structural challenges, including fragmented national priorities—evident in France's push for strategic autonomy versus Eastern members' NATO reliance—and insufficient funding, with EU-level defense spending under 2% of collective GDP despite post-2022 Ukraine commitments to raise national targets to 2%. PESCO projects have delivered prototypes, such as cyber teams operational in exercises by 2024, but critics note slow procurement and overlap with NATO efforts, limiting deterrence against state actors like Russia or China. Internal security via the April 2025 ProtectEU strategy targets terrorism and organized crime through Europol enhancements and border reinforcements, yet enforcement varies due to opt-outs and migration disputes, underscoring causal tensions between integration and sovereignty. Overall, while regulatory tools like the AI Act indirectly bolster security by classifying high-risk tech, the EU's emphasis on soft power and norms over hard military capabilities leaves gaps in addressing emerging threats like hypersonic weapons or biotech risks.^[184]^[185]^[186]

Key Debates and Trade-Offs

Sovereignty Versus Global Interdependence

National sovereignty in security policy entails a state's exclusive authority to govern its territory, resources, and defense decisions without external interference, enabling rapid, unilateral responses to threats. Global interdependence, conversely, fosters mutual reliance through alliances, trade, and institutions, aiming to amplify security via shared burdens and deterrence. These approaches clash when international commitments limit sovereign actions, such as alliance obligations constraining military autonomy or trade pacts exposing critical industries to foreign leverage. National security and sovereignty are mutually reinforcing, as diminished control over domestic capabilities erodes a state's defensive posture.^[187] Alliances exemplify interdependence's potential benefits, with NATO's collective defense under Article 5 credited for deterring direct attacks on members since 1949, as no adversary has tested the alliance's resolve despite Cold War tensions and subsequent provocations. This pooling of military resources has preserved territorial integrity across diverse members, though effectiveness relies on credible commitments and burden-sharing, which have varied historically. However, economic interdependence introduces exploitable asymmetries, as outlined in analyses of "weaponized interdependence," where global networks enable coercion through chokepoints rather than outright denial of access. For instance, states with market power can selectively restrict flows to punish rivals, turning trade ties into security liabilities.^[188]^[189]^[190] China's dominance in rare earth elements—accounting for 70% of global mining and 90% of processing in 2025—illustrates such risks, as these materials are essential for defense technologies like missiles and electronics, allowing Beijing to wield influence in South China Sea disputes or trade frictions. Europe's pre-2022 reliance on Russian natural gas, which supplied 45% of EU imports in 2021, failed to deter Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, prompting a swift reduction to 15% by 2023 via LNG terminals and pipelines from Norway and the U.S., at the cost of higher energy prices and industrial disruptions. In response, the U.S. has asserted sovereignty through targeted measures, including 25% tariffs on steel and 10% on aluminum imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act in 2018, justified by threats to domestic production critical for armored vehicles and aircraft.^[191]^[192]^[193] The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 allocated $52 billion to onshore semiconductor manufacturing, driven by national security imperatives to counter vulnerabilities from Taiwan's 90% share of advanced chips and potential Chinese blockades, prohibiting funded firms from expanding in China. These policies signal a shift toward "friend-shoring" and strategic autonomy, prioritizing resilient supply chains over full globalization, though they entail trade-offs like elevated costs and slower innovation diffusion. Empirical evidence from supply disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic underscores interdependence's fragility, as global just-in-time manufacturing amplified shortages in medical and defense goods, reinforcing arguments for sovereign redundancies in strategic sectors.^[194]^[195]^[196]

Security Measures and Individual Liberties

The tension between national security measures and individual liberties arises from the need to mitigate threats such as terrorism while safeguarding rights like privacy, free speech, and due process. Post-September 11, 2001, policies like the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 expanded government surveillance authorities, including roving wiretaps, access to business records, and enhanced intelligence sharing, which the U.S. Department of Justice credited with enabling law enforcement to disrupt terrorist plots and financing networks.^[197] The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that these tools contributed to steady progress in counterterrorism efforts by improving monitoring of suspect communications without requiring probable cause in certain cases.^[198] However, critics, including analyses from the Brennan Center for Justice, argue that bulk data collection under such provisions led to overreach, with government reviews indicating that excessive surveillance sometimes hindered effective threat detection by overwhelming analysts with irrelevant information.^[199] Edward Snowden's 2013 disclosures revealed the scope of National Security Agency programs under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act and Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, which involved bulk collection of telephony metadata and upstream surveillance of international communications, affecting millions of Americans' data incidentally.^[200] A U.S. House Intelligence Committee review found that most documents leaked by Snowden pertained to military and defense operations rather than domestic privacy intrusions, and that the programs had prevented specific attacks, such as a 2010 plot targeting a Washington, D.C., metro station.^[201] These revelations prompted reforms like the USA Freedom Act of 2015, which curtailed bulk metadata collection by shifting storage to telecom providers, though Section 702 persists with annual reauthorizations and minimal oversight changes as of 2023. Empirical studies, such as those examining public attitudes, show that heightened threat perceptions—measured via surveys post-major incidents—correlate with greater willingness to accept surveillance expansions, with citizens prioritizing security gains over abstract liberty concerns in discrete choice experiments.^[202] Debates persist on whether inherent trade-offs exist, with research challenging the zero-sum paradigm by demonstrating that targeted, judicially overseen measures can enhance security without proportional liberty erosions, provided executive discretion is checked to avoid bias toward overcollection.^[203] Instances of abuse, including FBI queries of Section 702 data exceeding legal bounds by over 3 million instances in 2019-2020 as reported in declassified compliance audits, underscore risks of mission creep into non-terrorism areas like routine criminal probes.^[199] No large-scale domestic terrorist attacks have occurred on U.S. soil since 2001, attributable in part to enhanced intelligence capabilities, yet causal attribution remains contested due to confounding factors like improved international cooperation. In authoritarian contexts, such as China's integration of surveillance with social credit systems, security measures have demonstrably suppressed dissent, illustrating how unchecked powers amplify liberty costs beyond empirical security benefits. Ongoing policy reviews emphasize proportionality: measures must demonstrably avert threats without enabling indefinite data retention or warrantless access, as unchecked expansions risk normalizing state overreach that undermines the very freedoms national security ostensibly protects.^[204]

Immigration Policies and Internal Cohesion

Immigration policies shape national security by influencing the degree of internal cohesion, as rapid influxes from culturally dissimilar populations can erode social trust and foster parallel societies, thereby complicating unified responses to external threats. Empirical research indicates that ethnic diversity, often driven by immigration, correlates with reduced interpersonal trust and civic engagement in the short term, even as long-term assimilation may rebuild social capital. This "hunkering down" effect, observed across U.S. communities, weakens the social bonds essential for collective defense and internal stability, as fragmented societies exhibit lower cooperation in crises.^[205] In Europe, the 2015-2016 influx of over 1 million asylum seekers, predominantly from the Middle East and North Africa, demonstrated negative impacts on social cohesion in regions with preexisting immigration concerns, including heightened perceptions of cultural threat and reduced intergroup trust.^[206] Such policies, characterized by lax border controls and limited vetting, have contributed to the formation of enclaves with low integration rates, where imported norms clash with host values, elevating risks of honor-based violence and grooming gangs, as seen in the UK with over 1,400 victims identified in Rotherham alone between 1997 and 2013, predominantly involving Pakistani-origin perpetrators. Lax enforcement has also strained law enforcement resources, with foreign nationals comprising nearly 50% of prison inmates in Germany as of 2024, despite representing about 15% of the population.^[207] From a national security perspective, unvetted mass immigration facilitates terrorism diffusion, as migrants from conflict zones serve as conduits for radical ideologies and networks. A cross-national analysis found that higher immigration levels from Muslim-majority countries predict increased terrorist attacks in Western Europe, with a 1% rise in the immigrant share linked to a 0.31% increase in attacks.^[208] In the EU, between 2015 and 2023, jihadist terrorism accounted for the majority of fatalities, with perpetrators often second-generation immigrants or recent arrivals radicalized in host countries, underscoring failures in assimilation policies.^[209] U.S. data similarly reveals vulnerabilities, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehending over 2.4 million migrants at the southern border in fiscal year 2023, including individuals on terrorist watchlists, heightening risks of internal threats amid overwhelmed vetting systems.^[210] Effective policies prioritizing skilled, culturally compatible immigration and mandatory assimilation—such as language requirements and civic education—bolster cohesion by preserving shared values and reducing friction. In contrast, open-border approaches exacerbate divisions, as evidenced by rising populist backlashes and security incidents, which divert resources from external defenses to domestic containment. While some studies claim neutral or positive net effects on cohesion, these often overlook subgroup disparities and rely on aggregate data that mask elevated risks from low-skilled or ideologically incompatible inflows, a tendency attributable to institutional preferences for optimistic narratives over granular causal analysis.^[211]^[212]

Prioritizing Hard Power Over Soft Influences

Hard power, encompassing military capabilities and economic sanctions, enables states to compel or deter adversaries through coercion, whereas soft influences rely on cultural appeal, diplomatic persuasion, and ideological attraction to shape behavior without force. In national security debates, prioritizing hard power emphasizes allocating resources to maintain credible threats of retaliation, as soft power often proves insufficient against revisionist actors willing to use force. For instance, Joseph Nye, who coined "soft power," has acknowledged that it functions best as a complement to hard power, not a replacement, particularly in high-stakes confrontations where deterrence hinges on perceived resolve and capability.^[213]^[214] Historical evidence underscores hard power's primacy for deterrence. During the Cold War, the United States' nuclear arsenal and conventional forces deterred direct Soviet aggression against NATO allies, preventing escalation despite ideological and cultural soft power efforts on both sides; this balance maintained relative stability for over four decades until the USSR's collapse in 1991. In contrast, pre-World War II appeasement policies toward Nazi Germany, which emphasized diplomatic concessions over military buildup, failed to prevent invasion, as Britain's limited hard power in 1938 undermined deterrence and emboldened expansionism. Post-independence India illustrates soft power's limits without hard backing: despite global admiration for its democratic ideals and non-aligned diplomacy, its military weakness invited the 1962 Sino-Indian War, where China's hard power superiority led to territorial losses.^[214]^[215] Contemporary cases reinforce this prioritization amid rising threats. Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine disregarded Western soft power initiatives like economic aid and cultural exchanges, proceeding only after perceiving NATO's deterrence as untested; in response, enhanced hard power commitments, including U.S. arms deliveries totaling over $50 billion by mid-2023, have prevented further advances into NATO territory. China's military modernization, with defense spending reaching $292 billion in 2023—surpassing soft power investments like the Belt and Road Initiative—has enabled assertive actions in the South China Sea, where diplomatic attraction has yielded limited compliance from neighbors. Empirical analyses of counterinsurgency and great-power competition indicate hard power yields faster incident reductions and deterrence effects, while soft power's long-term gains require underlying coercive credibility to avoid exploitation. Over-reliance on soft influences risks eroding security, as seen in the U.S. post-2001 focus on nation-building, where initial military successes in Afghanistan and Iraq gave way to instability after drawdowns reduced hard power projection.^[216]^[215] Trade-offs exist, with excessive hard power emphasis potentially alienating allies and inflating costs—U.S. defense budgets averaged $800 billion annually from 2020-2024, dwarfing State Department funding—but data from great-power eras show underinvestment in military readiness correlates with higher conflict risks, as in the interwar period's arms control failures. Proponents argue that hard power not only deters but amplifies soft influence by signaling resolve, aligning with causal mechanisms where adversaries weigh costs over affinities. In an era of peer competitors, strategies like the U.S. 2018 National Security Strategy explicitly prioritize military competition over diffuse soft efforts, reflecting lessons that unbacked attraction invites aggression.^[217]^[216]

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Oct 22, 2014 · National security has been described as the ability of a state to cater for the protection and defence of its citizenry.
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NSC-68, 1950 - Office of the Historian
NSC-68 was a Top-Secret report completed by the US Department of State's Policy Planning Staff on April 7, 1950.
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Understanding National Security Strategies Through Time
Sep 7, 2023 · George H. W. Bush's 1993 National Security Strategy is the first post-Cold War strategy to explicitly adopt democracy promotion worldwide as a ...
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National Security Strategy - OSD Historical Office
The National Security Strategy (NSS) is a report mandated by Section 603 of the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986.
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Violation of territorial integrity as a tool for waging long-term hybrid ...
Nov 27, 2023 · The violation of territorial integrity sooner or later leads to other military conflicts, which have severe consequences for national security.
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The Necessity of Territorial Integrity - Diplomatic Courier
There are very good reasons for continuing to treat aggression as the supreme international crime, and territorial integrity as the foundation stone of the ...<|separator|>
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[PDF] Deterrence Theory and Chinese Behavior - RAND
Since deterrence primarily relies on the threat of future harm, the deterrer's credibility is obviously a key factor in making deterrence work.
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2025 United States Military Strength - Global Firepower
The GFP index denotes United States as a Top 5 global military power. For 2025, United States is ranked 1 of 145 out of the countries considered for the annual ...Paramilitary forces · Total Shared Border Coverage... · Total Ports, Harbors, and...Missing: territorial | Show results with:territorial
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[PDF] The Military Balance 2025
The United States remains the preeminent military power as of 2025, with a defense budget exceeding $800 billion. Its military encompasses advanced nuclear ...
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Unprecedented rise in global military expenditure as European and ...
Apr 28, 2025 · (Stockholm, 28 April 2025) World military expenditure reached $2718 billion in 2024, an increase of 9.4 per cent in real terms from 2023 and ...
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The Army must accelerate counterspace investments
Aug 18, 2025 · Col. Pete Atkinson argues in this op-ed that the Army needs to have native counterspace capabilities.
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DoD's Shifting Homeland Defense Mission Could Undermine ... - CSIS
Apr 22, 2025 · Putting the US military centrally into a border security role increases risks to service members who are not trained or equipped for this mission.
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Legal Deterrence by Denial: Strategic Initiative and International ...
Jun 24, 2025 · This article explores the relationship between international law and the gray zone, develops a strategy of legal deterrence by denial tailored to address the ...
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Closing Pandora's Box? The Territorial Integrity Norm and ...
Feb 1, 2024 · Scholars and policy makers have argued that territorial revisionism is dangerous because it risks setting off a cascade of claims by states ...
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[PDF] ECONOMIC SECURITY IS NATIONAL SECURITY
Economic security is national security. America's leadership and prosperity in the 21st century will depend on whether the U.S. can leverage its global.
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Economic Security as 'National Security' – An Unacknowledged ...
Jul 24, 2025 · “Economic security is national security”, stated the 2017 United States National Security Strategy released during the first Trump ...
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[PDF] Supply Chain Diversification and Resilience, WP/25/102, May 2025
First, we show that geographical concentration of imports increases vulnerability to exporter-specific supply shocks. Second, we provide evidence that a more.
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[PDF] Economic Security: Neglected Dimension of National ... - NDU Press
From independence until the Civil War, comparatively modest. Federal revenues had come from excise taxes, tariffs, customs duties, and the sale of public land.
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US Dependence on China for Rare Earth Elements Sparks Security ...
Sep 18, 2025 · “If the Chinese are the source of rare earths, it creates a tremendous problem for our military,” Kaye said. Owning a deposit of rare earth ...
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The Devil is in the Details: Minerals, Batteries, and US Dependence ...
May 30, 2025 · US dependence on China for critical minerals and battery supply chains represents a national security risk, leaving the country potentially ...
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[PDF] OECD Supply Chain Resilience Review: Navigating Risks
New risks and uncertainty have emerged in the wake of geopolitical tensions, growing supply concentration, and instances of economic coercion. Policy makers ...
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Supply Chain Resilience and the Effects of Economic Shocks
This article explores how economic shocks can propagate through the supply chain, the trade-offs associated with resilience investments, and policy responses.
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What Are Economic Sanctions? | Council on Foreign Relations
They can include travel bans, asset freezes, arms embargoes, and trade restrictions. The United States has more than two dozen sanctions regimes: some target ...
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The Rise of Economic Security | Council on Foreign Relations
Jan 21, 2025 · During the past five years, countries have collectively announced an average of three thousand economic restrictions per year, a nearly fourfold increase.
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Supply Chains Are Critical Infrastructure. It's Time U.S. Policy ...
Oct 10, 2025 · Supply chains should be understood not as narrow economic issues but as essential to national security and resilience. Only then will ...
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S. Rept. 119-16 - PROMOTING RESILIENT SUPPLY CHAINS ACT ...
Senate report on PROMOTING RESILIENT SUPPLY CHAINS ACT OF 2025. This report is by the Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
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A Federal Critical Mineral Processing Initiative - War on the Rocks
Apr 14, 2025 · These dependencies underscore the national security risks posed by China's dominance in critical mineral refining. Although encouraging ...
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U.S. Military Dependence on China's Rare Earths - Modern Diplomacy
Aug 29, 2025 · China's dominance in rare earth minerals (REEs) poses a direct national security threat to the U.S. defense weapons system.
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Critical minerals in crisis: Stress testing US supply chains against ...
Oct 9, 2025 · China has demonstrated its willingness to weaponize its dominance over mineral markets, tightening export restrictions on graphite, antimony, ...
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The Consequences of China's New Rare Earths Export Restrictions
Apr 14, 2025 · Further bans on critical minerals inputs will only widen the gap, enabling China to strengthen its military capabilities more quickly than the ...
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Can the US Reduce its Dependence on China for Critical Minerals?
Oct 16, 2025 · Critical minerals are central to innovation and security. The United States is dependent on China for them. Karl Friedhoff explains why that ...
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[PDF] Homeland Threat Assessment 2025
PRC state-sponsored cyber actors have pre-positioned cyber exploitation and attack capabilities for disruptive or destructive cyber attacks against US ...
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[PDF] Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community
Mar 18, 2025 · The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is fielding a joint force that is capable of full-spectrum warfare to challenge intervention by the United ...<|separator|>
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People's Republic of China Threat Overview and Advisories - CISA
PRC-linked cyber actors, such as Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon, exhibit tactics and target selection that extend beyond traditional cyber espionage or ...
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Foreign Disinformation: Defining and Detecting Threats | U.S. GAO
Sep 26, 2024 · Disinformation can weaken democracies while increasing political instability and conflict among people, reports the Office of the Director of ...
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This increases foreign publics' awareness of and resilience to. Russian disinformation campaigns and provides global audiences with access to credible ...
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What Are the Risks of Energy Dependence on Single Nations?
Apr 21, 2025 · Numerous historical events illustrate the risks of energy dependence. The oil crises of the 1970s, triggered by geopolitical events in the ...
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Topic: Energy security - NATO
Jan 11, 2024 · Energy security plays an important role in the common security of NATO Allies. The disruption of energy supply could affect security within the societies of ...
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Energy Security
The secure and reliable delivery of energy is crucial for national security, the economy, public health, and public safety. The ability to access electricity, ...Missing: autonomy | Show results with:autonomy
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U.S. energy facts - imports and exports - EIA
Jul 15, 2024 · The United States has been a net total energy exporter—total energy exports have been higher than total energy imports—since 2019.
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US primary energy production, consumption, imports, and exports
Jun 20, 2025 · Energy imports stayed flat at 21.7 quads in 2024, meaning the United States exported 9.3 quads more energy than it imported, the highest net ...
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In 2024, the United States produced more energy than ever before
Jun 9, 2025 · U.S. total energy production was more than 103 quadrillion British thermal units in 2024, a 1% increase from the previous record set in 2023.
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Energy Independence and Security
Achieving U.S. energy independence would mean ending our nation's reliance on imported energy resources, securing our critical energy infrastructure against ...
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China, the United States, and a Critical Chokepoint on Minerals
Oct 17, 2025 · CFR President Michael Froman shares his take on the United States' dependence on China for critical minerals—and how the country can begin ...Missing: autonomy | Show results with:autonomy
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Jun 4, 2019 · The Trump Administration released a government-wide action plan to reduce US dependence on critical minerals from foreign sources like China.
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In Case You Missed It: Energy Security is National Security
Sep 10, 2019 · Just as energy independence is fundamental to our nation's security, reducing our dependence upon foreign countries for critical minerals is vital.Missing: autonomy | Show results with:autonomy
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CBP releases March 2025 monthly update
Apr 14, 2025 · In March 2025, USBP apprehended 7,181 illegal aliens crossing the southwest border between ports of entry. This constitutes a 14% decrease from ...
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FY2025 Begins with Over 140000 Border Encounters Nationwide ...
Nov 22, 2024 · According to CBP, for the fourth October in a row under the Biden-Harris administration, nationwide encounters totaled more than 140,000, ...Missing: southern | Show results with:southern
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Dozens of Migrants on Terrorist Watchlist Released Into US
Aug 5, 2024 · US Border Patrol encountered over 250 migrants who were on the terrorist watchlist over a two-year stretch, with at least 99 of them released into the country.
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Following the recent influx of migrants to European countries, the fear of increasing crime has loomed large in the public debate. During the 2016 presidential ...
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Immigration Diversity and Social Cohesion - Migration Observatory
Dec 13, 2019 · This briefing discusses the meaning, dimensions, measurement and determinants of social cohesion. Drawing on research in the US, UK and other European ...
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[PDF] Crime and immigration: evidence from large immigrant waves
The first wave led to a modest but significant rise in property crime, while the second wave had a small negative impact. There was no effect on violent crime; ...Missing: peer | Show results with:peer
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[PDF] The Effects of Exposure to Refugees on Crime - EconStor
In particular, the authors find that a 1% increase in the total number of migrants is associated with a 0.1% increase in property crimes (i.e., robberies and ...
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Jan 11, 2024 · Illegal immigrants are a net fiscal drain, with a lifetime drain of about $68,000 per person, and receive $42 billion in benefits, though they ...
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Effects of the Surge in Immigration on State and Local Budgets in 2023
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Ideological Security as National Security - CSIS
Dec 2, 2020 · Identity is an important variable in national security. A national identity crisis inevitably leads to national security risks. Whether it ...
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National identity can affect willingness to defend country - Phys.org
Sep 15, 2025 · The findings show that cultural and civic nationalism can be just as important as traditional military pride in motivating Swedes to defend ...
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[PDF] the clash of civilizations ? | grip
Samuel P. Huntington is the Eaton Professor of the Science of Government and Director of the John. M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University ...
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[PDF] The Clash of Civilizations?
Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of ...
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[PDF] The Impact of Ethnic Groups on National Security
Nov 1, 2022 · Language and religion are the factors that make culture a threat to national security. Geography and the environment play significant roles ...
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A Strategic Analysis of Cultural and Ideological Defense in Vietnam
The Vietnamese government is striving to establish a strong ideological defense against the subversive strategies of "peaceful evolution"through these endeavors ...
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Cultural security in the context of globalization: A bibliometric ...
The spread of foreign cultures threatens indigenous traditions, prompting nationalism and cultural protectionism, and raising awareness of cultural security.
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[PDF] The Challenges Taiwan Faces in Cognitive Warfare and Its Impact ...
May 1, 2025 · This shift transforms ideological defense into a competitive initiative. While largely beneficial, these measures require careful management ...
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Defending the national identity: exploring the links between a ...
For defence willingness, we thus suggest that national identity could also make a person feel obliged to follow the national norm of agreeing that the country ...
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This chapter establishes the return of Great Power competition (GPC) as the fully acknowledged, dominant paradigm of interstate relations in 2017.Missing: peer | Show results with:peer
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US National Security in a New Era of Intense Global Competition
The United States and China are in a great power competition that will have profound impact on the national security and economic security of both countries ...
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China's Military in 10 Charts - CSIS
Sep 2, 2025 · The PLA's modernization is far from complete and faces significant obstacles, but Chinese leader Xi Jinping has made it a top priority and is ...
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Dec 18, 2024 · The report shall address the current and probable future course of military-technological development of the People's Liberation Army and the ...
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Mapping the Recent Trends in China's Military Modernisation - 2025
Sep 30, 2025 · The People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China has witnessed significant changes since its first push for modernisation in the 1980s under Deng ...
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Stabilizing the U.S.-China Rivalry - RAND
Oct 14, 2025 · The geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China embodies risks of outright military conflict, economic warfare, and political ...
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Breaking Down Global Military Spending by Country in 2024
May 17, 2025 · Together, the United States, China, and Russia—often considered strategic competitors—made up 54% of global military expenditure in 2024.
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Oct 24, 2024 · At the NATO Summit in Madrid, Allies agreed that Russia is the most significant and direct threat to their security and to peace and stability ...
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Russia is the most direct and significant threat to the security of NATO member states—and since Moscow's invasion of Georgia in 2008 this threat continues ...
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Russia's updated National Security Strategy - NATO Defense College
Jul 19, 2021 · On 2nd July 2021, President Vladimir Putin signed into law an updated version of one of Russia's most important documents of strategic ...
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Apr 28, 2025 · World military expenditure rose to $2718 billion in 2024, meaning that spending has increased every year for a full decade, going up by 37 per cent between ...
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Adapting US Defense Strategy to Great-Power Competition
Mar 20, 2025 · This article outlines the trade-offs involved among competing priorities and regions and proposes five strategic pillars to guide the development of a US ...
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Non-State Actors | The Heritage Foundation
Terrorist Threats to the Homeland from the Middle East and North Africa. Radical Islamist terrorism in its various forms remains a global threat to the safety ...
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How to Reduce Violent Nonstate Actors' Abilities to Adapt - RAND
Jun 6, 2022 · Such organizations pose durable and direct threats to U.S. security interests. The capacity of VNSAs to wage war, inflict violence, and ...
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Jun 7, 2023 · CL0P Ransomware Gang, also known as TA505, began exploiting a previously unknown SQL injection vulnerability (CVE-2023-34362) in Progress Software's managed ...
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Jan 21, 2025 · Africa tragically remains the epicentre of global terrorism, and more action is required to implement international commitments to combat ...
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May 7, 2024 · Hybrid threats combine military and non-military as well as covert and overt means, including disinformation, cyber attacks, economic pressure, ...
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Hybrid Warfare – New Threats, Complexity, and 'Trust' as the Antidote
Nov 30, 2021 · Hybrid threats are often tailored to the vulnerabilities of the target state or inter-state political communities. The purpose is to exploit ...
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Russia's hybrid war against the West - NATO Review
Apr 26, 2024 · It is often difficult to fully diagnose an active or recent hybrid threat. For instance, when France's TV5Monde came under a fierce cyber attack ...
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Fortifying the Baltic Sea - NATO's defence and deterrence strategy ...
May 5, 2025 · ... threat of hybrid attacks – that is, attacks just below the threshold of kinetic warfare, which blur the lines between peace and conflict ...<|separator|>
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The Future of Hybrid Warfare - CSIS
Jul 8, 2024 · Sponsorship from a major power can generate hybrid threats more readily by the provision of advanced military capabilities to the proxy. Russian ...
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[PDF] NATIONAL SECURITY IN THE DIGITAL AGE: - Two Six Technologies
The digital revolution is a double-edged sword for national security. While innovations in artificial intelligence. (AI), biotechnology, quantum computing and ...
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Weaponized AI: A New Era of Threats and How We Can Counter It
Apr 8, 2025 · AI has dramatically lowered barriers to cyberattacks, deepfake-driven manipulation, misinformation campaigns, large-scale fraud, and social engineering.
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National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence - NSCAI
The U.S. government is not prepared to defend the United States in the coming AI era. AI applications are transforming existing threats, creating new classes of ...Chapter 3: AI and Warfare · Chapter 1 - NSCAI Final Report · Jump to Chapter<|separator|>
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Artificial General Intelligence's Five Hard National Security Problems
Feb 10, 2025 · This paper puts forth five hard problems that AGI's emergence presents for US national security: (1) wonder weapons, (2) systemic shifts in power, (3) ...
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Post-Quantum Cryptography Initiative | CISA
... risk in the 55 National Critical Functions (NCFs). ... The Post-Quantum Cryptography Initiative to unify and drive agency efforts to address threats posed by ...
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NIST Releases First 3 Finalized Post-Quantum Encryption Standards
Aug 13, 2024 · In 2015, NIST initiated the selection and standardization of quantum-resistant algorithms to counter potential threats from quantum computers.<|separator|>
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Representatives Subramanyam and McGuire Lead Bipartisan ...
Aug 8, 2025 · This legislation will leverage existing government expertise to assess cybersecurity and national security risks posed by quantum computers and ...
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Science & Tech Spotlight: Synthetic Biology | U.S. GAO
Apr 17, 2023 · Safety and security concerns. Synthetic biology could pose a significant threat to national security if it were used for nefarious purposes, ...
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Mitigating Risks from Gene Editing and Synthetic Biology: Global ...
Oct 16, 2024 · Establish AI guardrails to reduce the risks of bioterrorism. The revolution in gene editing is not occurring in a vacuum, but rather alongside ...
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AI and the Evolution of Biological National Security Risks | CNAS
Aug 13, 2024 · Experts began warning that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) could augur a world of bioterrorism, unprecedented superviruses, and novel ...<|control11|><|separator|>
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[PDF] domestic Law and national security strategy - Hoover Institution
Effective national security planning depends in part on domestic considerations, one of which is law. The US Constitution and national laws govern the ...
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[PDF] Domestic Security - Cato Institute
Like our foreign policy, our domestic security policy must be strategic. It must avoid the overreaction that terrorism seeks to engender. Terrorists often ...
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[PDF] Homeland Security - RAND
As noted earlier, the National Strategy for Homeland Security identifies six critical mission areas and four foundations of homeland security.5 The critical ...<|control11|><|separator|>
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Why the US needs a total defense strategy based on resilience | Brookings
### Summary of Total Defense Strategy Based on Resilience
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What is deterrence, and what is its role in U.S. national defense?
May 1, 2024 · The Department of Defense's priority mission has always been deterrence to keep other countries from waging war against the United States.
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Deterrence Theory - CIRIS
Rooted in the belief that threats can prevent adversaries from taking undesirable actions, deterrence aims to maintain stability by convincing opponents that ...
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[PDF] Understanding Deterrence - RAND
This summary highlights three factors that should be kept in mind when considering the role of deterrence in U.S. national security strategy: 1. Preventing ...
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U.S. Nuclear and Extended Deterrence: Considerations and ...
Many argue that MAD worked and kept the United States and Soviet Union from an all-out war—despite the intense political, economic and ideological competition ...
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Perspectives on Nuclear Deterrence in the 21st Century
Apr 20, 2020 · The Cold War logic of nuclear deterrence maintains that nuclear-armed states will not attack one another because of fear of massive retaliation ...
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Mar 5, 2025 · However, the fact is, and this has been the case since the Cold War, that nuclear deterrence does not prevent “peripheral conflicts in relation ...
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The Future of Alliances and Extended Nuclear Deterrence - CSIS
So, as we turn to Europe and the future of the central alliance which links together so much of the transatlantic family, we then look at NATO.
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Pentagon Official: Alliances Are Key to U.S. Nuclear Deterrence ...
Aug 2, 2024 · Additionally, the U.S. continues to strengthen its global alliances and partnerships, which enhance strategic deterrence.
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Article 5 for the Next Decade of NATO
Dec 20, 2022 · As the Russian invasion of Ukraine has shown, NATO could not deter an attack on a non-member state.
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Topic: Collective defence and Article 5 - NATO
Jul 4, 2023 · Article 5 provides that if a NATO Ally is the victim of an armed attack, each and every other member of the Alliance will consider this act of violence as an ...
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NATO, Article 5, and 9/11 | Wilson Center
Apr 2, 2024 · Deterrence only works if foes and potential foes believe that the alliance and its members are ready and willing to mobilize after Article 5 is ...
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Allies, Partners Central to U.S. Integrated Deterrence Effort
including increased partnerships with American allies and partners — plays a central role to defending against ...
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Sharper: Integrated Deterrence - CNAS
Integrated deterrence calls for integrating all tools of national power with the robust network of allies and partners that the US has to credibly deter ...
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Nuclear deterrence today - NATO Review
Jun 8, 2020 · Today, the number of US nuclear weapons deployed in Europe in support of NATO has been reduced by 90 per cent since the end of the Cold War.
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US allies question extended deterrence guarantees, but have few ...
Mar 20, 2025 · NATO has long sheltered under US extended deterrence, while Washington has also provided Australia, Japan and South Korea with its nuclear ...<|separator|>
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Willfully Vague: Why NATO's Article 5 Is So Misunderstood - CEPA
Jul 1, 2024 · Article 5 continues to serve as a vital deterrent, though it leaves open the door for less enthusiastic allies to send coal oil rather than armies.
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Deterrence and Collective Defence - Joint Air Power Competence ...
Article 5 of the Washington Treaty links deterrence and collective defence because when deterrence fails and an ally is attacked, the Alliance will invoke ...
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Mission - INTEL.gov
The Intelligence Community's mission is to collect, analyze, and deliver foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information to America's leaders.
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[PDF] NATIONAL COUNTERINTELLIGENCE STRATEGY - DNI.gov
Aug 1, 2024 · Based on current and anticipated foreign intelligence threats, this strategy updates our counterintelligence priorities and aligns them with ...
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Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) Overview - National Security Agency
NSA is responsible for providing foreign signals intelligence (SIGINT) to our nation's policy-makers and military forces.
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Members of the IC - DNI.gov
Nine Department of Defense elements—the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the National Security Agency (NSA), the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency (NGA) ...
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[PDF] Surveillance and National Security: Balancing Privacy and Public ...
Surveillance has emerged as a fundamental element of global national security plans, providing unmatched capabilities in threat detection and intelligence ...
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Is camera surveillance an effective measure of counterterrorism?
Feb 29, 2012 · We expect camera surveillance to have a relatively smaller deterrent effect on terrorism than on other forms of crime.
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[PDF] The National Intelligence Strategy of the United States of America
It supports the national security priorities outlined in the National Security. Strategy as well as other national strategies. In executing the. NIS, all IC ...
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Guiding Principles on Government Use of Surveillance Technologies
The principles aim to prevent misuse of surveillance tech, ensure lawful use, respect human rights, and address internet controls, AI, and big data concerns.
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Organization of the National Security Council and Subcommittees
Jan 20, 2025 · January 20, 2025 National Security Presidential Memorandum/NSPM-1 SUBJECT: Organization of the National Security.
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Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Declares National ...
Apr 2, 2025 · President Donald J. Trump declared that foreign trade and economic practices have created a national emergency, and his order imposes responsive tariffs.
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Long-Term Implications of the 2025 Future Years Defense Program
Nov 20, 2024 · The proposed budget for DoD in 2025 totals $850 billion. Adjusted for inflation, that amount is 1.1 percent less than the amount anticipated for ...
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2025 U.S. Defense Budget Overview (Enhancing Deterrence and ...
Apr 16, 2025 · The 2025 US defense budget maintains stable overall spending at $832.3 billion, up from $824.0 billion in 2024. It emphasizes strategic deterrence.
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Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Ensures National Security ...
Apr 15, 2025 · Trump Ensures National Security and Economic Resilience Through Section 232 Actions on Processed Critical Minerals and Derivative Products.
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National Security Presidential Memorandum/NSPM-2
Feb 4, 2025 · MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL THE SECRETARY OF ENERGY
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May 20, 2025 · A small but powerful alliance structure is AUKUS, a 2021 trilateral agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States to ...
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[PDF] AUKUS and Indo-Pacific Security - Congress.gov
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Jun 11, 2024 · The Department of Homeland Security has a vital mission: to secure the nation from the many threats we face. This requires the hard work of ...Contact Us · Mission · Leadership · Budget & Performance
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Protecting The United States From Foreign Terrorists And Other ...
Jan 20, 2025 · It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse ...
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Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Develops New Strategy to ...
Sep 25, 2025 · Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM) establishing a comprehensive strategy to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle ...Missing: document | Show results with:document<|separator|>
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China's National Security Commission
Jul 14, 2015 · Chinese President Xi Jinping took that step in 2013, announcing the creation of the Chinese National Security Commission (CNSC). In July ...Why was the Chinese National... · How is the CNSC affecting...<|separator|>
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National Security Law - China Law Translate —
Rating 5.0 (1) (1) Obeying the relevant provisions of the Constitution, laws, and regulations regarding national security. (2) promptly reporting leads on activities ...
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"Comprehensive National Security" unleashed: How Xi's approach ...
Sep 15, 2022 · Main findings and conclusions Xi Jinping has turned national security into a key paradigm that permeates all aspects of China's governance.
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Piercing the Veil of Secrecy: The Surveillance Role of China's MSS ...
Feb 29, 2024 · China has two security services responsible for domestic surveillance. The “political security protection” bureau of the Ministry of Public ...
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China's Expanding Surveillance State: Takeaways From a NYT ...
Jul 26, 2022 · Phone-tracking devices are now everywhere. The police are creating some of the largest DNA databases in the world. And the authorities are ...
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Silicon Valley enabled brutal mass detention and surveillance in ...
Sep 9, 2025 · Across China, surveillance systems track blacklisted “key persons,” whose movements are restricted and monitored. In Xinjiang, administrators ...
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China's 2025 National Security White Paper - The Diplomat
May 16, 2025 · The white paper presents the idea of a “holistic security” approach to national security that includes politics, economy, military, science and technology, and ...
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China Publishes First National Cybersecurity Strategy - USITO
The Strategy aims to build China into a cyber power while promoting an orderly, secure, and open cyberspace and safeguarding national sovereignty.
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China's Emerging Cyber Governance System - CSIS
Together these pieces cover rules for data protection, critical infrastructure (CI), encryption, internet content, as well as bolstering China's ICT industry.
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The Cybersecurity Strategies Of China, Russia, North Korea, And Iran
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Assessing Russian Military Adaptation in 2023
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Russian Military Objectives and Capacity in Ukraine Through 2024
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Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation
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Commission presents a European internal security strategy
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The Downside of Diversity
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Professor Joe Nye coined the term “soft power.” He says America's ...
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