Strategic Focus Areas
The ACNSL promotes “Whole of Government” solutions to critical national security issues. Our multi-faceted approach to these issues is outlined below through our primary areas of focus.
We believe that, after eighteen years, it is time for a military withdrawal from Afghanistan. As the U.S. seeks to ensure a stable and secure end state in Afghanistan, diplomacy should be at the forefront of our efforts.
We believe that a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to Iran is critical. Without diplomacy, the US risks stumbling into a military-first approach.
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ACNSL leaders support the continued dialogue with North Korea and believe it is the best option to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.
The ACNSL has taken on this new issue area to raise awareness for the importance of arms control. Our goal is to promote diplomacy with Russia as an essential aspect of strategic stability.
We strongly believe that American national interests are undermined when we compromise Foreign Service readiness and fail to fully staff our embassies.
American values constitute the cornerstone of our Democracy, and we must act to protect the existing mores and laws that hold the union together.
In the past, the United States has been generous in the face of drought, famine, and health in less fortunate countries, without a great deal of concern about payback or profit. Our foreign and economic policy, stemming from WWII, has not been transactional or mercantilist but was driven by great power competition. And while there has been a strong liberal component to the rhetoric we use to justify our policies, shorn of the rhetoric, our economic and military assistance has been based heavily on the expectation that we are stronger vis a vis other major powers when we have allies, and cooperative relations with much of the world, even when there is no immediate payback.
In an age of heightened global tension, bilateral and multilateral alliances are critical to ensuring U.S. security. The ACNSL firmly believes that we must remain a leader in international cooperation through agreements like NATO to maintain functional and strategic interoperability.
Environmental Impacts
Climate factors act to destabilize communities and bring about mass migration, which in turn affects our national security. The U.S. needs to take action to mitigate the impact of severe weather conditions on the capabilities of military installations.
Amid escalating tensions in the Indo-Pacific region, the ACNSL believes that the best path forward to securing stability in this vital region is through a holistic approach using all instruments of national power: diplomacy, trade and economics, technology, informational, and military. The United States must look at the region as a whole and maintain a broadened sense of focus where our attention is needed most, including addressing the rising multifaceted challenges currently presented by the Peoples Republic of China, denuclearization on the Korean peninsula through continued dialogue and negotiations with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and other emergent crisis or situations that arise unexpectedly.