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Visit our website for other free publication downloads http://www.StrategicStudiesInstitute.army.mil/ To rate this publication click here. STRATEGIC STUDIES INSTITUTE The Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) is part of the U.S. Army War College and is the strategic-level study agent for issues related to national security and military strategy with emphasis on geostrate- gic analysis. The mission of SSI is to use independent analysis to conduct strategic studies that develop policy recommendations on: • Strategy, planning, and policy for joint and combined employment of military forces; • Regional strategic appraisals; • The nature of land warfare; • Matters affecting the Army’s future; • The concepts, philosophy, and theory of strategy; and • Other issues of importance to the leadership of the Army. Studies produced by civilian and military analysts concern topics having strategic implications for the Army, the Department of De- fense, and the larger national security community. In addition to its studies, SSI publishes special reports on topics of special or immediate interest. These include edited proceedings of conferences and topically-oriented roundtables, expanded trip reports, and quick-reaction responses to senior Army leaders. The Institute provides a valuable analytical capability within the Army to address strategic and other issues in support of Army par- ticipation in national security policy formulation. Strategic Studies Institute Monograph HOW NATION-STATES CRAFT NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY DOCUMENTS Alan G. Stolberg October 2012 The views expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Depart- ment of the Army, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Gov- ernment. Authors of Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) publications enjoy full academic freedom, provided they do not disclose clas- sified information, jeopardize operations security, or misrepre- sent official U.S. policy. Such academic freedom empowers them to offer new and sometimes controversial perspectives in the interest of furthering debate on key issues. This report is cleared for public release; distribution is unlimited. ***** This publication is subject to Title 17, United States Code, Sec- tions 101 and 105. It is in the public domain and may not be copy- righted. ***** Comments pertaining to this report are invited and should be forwarded to: Director, Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 47 Ashburn Drive, Carlisle, PA 17013. ***** The crafting of this monograph would never have been possible without the incredible support of so many. For this, and so much more, I will always be grateful. There are some that I absolutely must make mention of: to Professor Douglas Lovelace and Dr. Anthony Echevarria of the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, thank you so much for the great financial and moral support; to the U.S. Army War College for the willingness to provide me the time for a 6-month sabbatical to conduct the research that was so key to the analysis; to the many men and women in each of the five countries that worked on their nation’s national security strategy documents and their readiness to share their experiences, both good and bad, with me. Within each country, there were always one or two that stepped forward in a special way to hold my hand and open the key doors that I needed to pass through: Dr. David Connery for Australia, General of Division Gerson Menandro in Brazil, Helmoed Heit- man for South Africa, Sir David Omand in the United Kingdom, and in the United States, former National Security Advisor Steve Hadley provided time that he did not have in numerous ways to help shape this document’s outcome. There were others behind the scenes who helped make this all happen, to include Mr. Kia Ghorashi who always ensured that I had a vehicle to communi- cate with former NSA Hadley, Ms. Saline Guimaraes Currin who served as my superb Portuguese translator at an absolutely critical period, and to Ms. Tara Colyer, who made sure that I could travel wherever and whenever I needed. To all of these, as well as those space will not permit me to mention, thank you. There will never be a way that I could truly thank my fam- ily enough for both supporting and putting up with this journey during this past year. For my love, Dianne, thank you as always for the support that you gave me. ii ***** All Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) publications may be downloaded free of charge from the SSI website. Hard copies of this report may also be obtained free of charge while supplies last by placing an order on the SSI website. SSI publications may be quoted or reprinted in part or in full with permission and appropriate credit given to the U.S. Army Strategic Stud- ies Institute, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA. Contact SSI by visiting our website at the following address: www.StrategicStudiesInstitute.army.mil. ***** The Strategic Studies Institute publishes a monthly e-mail newsletter to update the national security community on the research of our analysts, recent and forthcoming publications, and upcoming conferences sponsored by the Institute. Each newsletter also provides a strategic commentary by one of our research analysts. If you are interested in receiving this newsletter, please subscribe on the SSI website at www.StrategicStudiesInstitute. army.mil/newsletter/. ISBN 1-58487-550-X iii FOREWORD In some manner, shape, or form, every nation state in the international system has a national security strategy or strategies. These strategies are intended to guide the state as it makes its way through the laby- rinth of challenges that every nation state faces in the 21st century. The strategy could represent the nation’s overall grand strategy or it could be a national security-related strategy for one particular issue, like force structure development for the armed forces. Strategy making is an art; not a science. Sometimes these strategies work and sometimes they do not. Some are effective and efficient as desired and others are less so. The focus for this assessment is how a nation state can craft the most effective and efficient national security- type strategy possible. To address these key questions, the national security strategy development processes in this monograph were examined and contrasted in five different nation-states to determine the methodologies they employed. For each case study, members of the government who actually worked on the development of the national strategy document in question were in- terviewed. These individuals—civil servants, career military officers, and senior political appointees—all had a story to tell about the separate approaches to strategy formulation. In the analysis of the strategy development processes utilized by Australia, Brazil, South Africa, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States, it be- came apparent that there were both similarities and differences in the manner that each nation conducted its strategy formulation. But most important, each one of national strategy development processes was v found to contain elements that could have real value for those countries not employing those particular approaches. Australia and the UK were superb in ensur- ing true whole of government coordination, as well as concurrent application of the government’s budget process and the formal administration of a risk assessment for the given strategy. Australia and South Africa did a superb job in bringing civil society into their document formulation processes. Brazil was ex- ceptional in the creation of detailed ways and means critical for strategy implementation. Finally, the U.S. approach included addressing all elements of national power, as well as the identification of potential strategy modifiers if the national strategy was found not to be working in certain areas. Given the complexities of the 21st century in the national security arena, the Strategic Studies Institute believes that assessments like the one you are about to read will be crucial to both practitioners and academ- ics alike to gain greater understanding for the most effective and efficient approaches to national strategy making in the 21st century. DOUGLAS C. LOVELACE, JR. Director Strategic Studies Institute vi ABOUT THE AUTHOR ALAN G. STOLBERG is Associate Professor of Na- tional Security Studies, faculty member of the Nation- al Security Policy Program, and former holder of the Henry L. Stimson Chair of Military Studies at the U.S. Army War College. A retired Army colonel, he served in a variety of intelligence and policy and strategy po- sitions as a European and Eurasian Foreign Area Of- ficer, to include Soviet/East European Political Mili- tary Planner for the Joint Staff J5 during the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, American Liaison Officer to the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) during the siege of Sarajevo in 1995, and Chief of the Europe/North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Division in United States European Command (USEUCOM) J5 during the Kosovo conflict and the first year of the Global War on Terror. His current research focuses on policy and strategy making, Eu- ropean and Eurasian security, security cooperation, and the U.S. Government interagency. He holds an M.A. in international relations from the University of Southern California, an M.A. in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College, and a Ph.D. in political science from Temple University. vii