NDU National Security Symposium - Forging an American Grand Strategy: Securing a Path Through a Complex Future

8-9 November 2011

at National Defense University

300 5th Avenue
Fort Lesley J. McNair
Washington, DC 20319
Phone:  202-685-3857
Fax:  202-685-4806

 "In thinking about the soup of grand strategy, recipes and theoretical principles are equally useless. What works in one case may well not work in another. In various strengths, grand strategy consists of leadership, vision, intuition, process, adaptation, and the impact of a nation's particular and idiosyncratic development and geographic position, but in no particular order or mixture." - Williamson Murray

 Conference overview

Most commonly, grand strategy is framed in the context of warfare or at least conflict among nations. There have been exceptions, and the focus of this symposium is not on warfare or preparation for war. Our intent is to promote a discussion about the elements of and prospect for a grand strategy for America.

We believe that an American grand strategy is not only possible, but critical to the future of the nation. A common strategic vision can do much to focus the attention and energies of the nation towards a common good. In a recent published article, Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter, formerly the Director of Policy Planning at the Department of State, succinctly described the need for a grand strategy or to use her terminology, a national strategic narrative to serve as a guide to the future.

During recent years the U.S. government has generated a plethora of strategies and strategic plans with most aimed at some aspect of security – national, economic, space, cyber, energy . . . the list continues to expand. It appears clear that none of these strategies whether separately or combined gets to the objective succinctly identified by Dr. Slaughter – "a story with a beginning, middle, and projected happy ending that will transcend our political divisions, orient us as a nation . . ." That storyline, with associated ways and means, is the basis for an American grand strategy. Our goals with this symposium are to help illuminate that path to the future and along the way, pose and answer a range of fundamental questions.