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go beyond the headlines.

On Dec. 4, the Trump administration released a new National Security Strategy. The strategy strikes a notably different tone than previous national security strategies — including the 2017 strategy released during President Donald Trump’s first term, though both the 2017 and 2025 strategies emphasize “America First” and related themes. The purpose and value of developing and publishing a national security strategy is debatable, but these documents provide useful insights into how a particular administration views the world and U.S. interests. We asked four experts to identify one positive and negative aspect of the new strategy.Read more below.Kori Schake Senior Fellow and the Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise InstituteThe positive element is the commitment to field the world’s strongest military. It will take an enormous investment to actually produce that outcome, given that China has 230 times the shipbuilding capacity of the United States — probably requiring a consistent 6 percent of Gross Domestic Product across at least a decade to return to a comfortable margin of superiority. It will be even more difficult if the administration so alienates allies that we don’t have their participation and assistance.The negative element is the wild incongruity between the strategy’s description of the world and the actual reality. Europe is not the threat to us — China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are. The only war this strategy prepares us for is a culture war against countries that are our closest friends.Daniel DePetris Fellow at Defense PrioritiesNo National Security Strategy is foolproof, and the Trump administration’s recently released paper is no exception. But it’s not a complete disaster either. One of the most refreshing aspects of the 2025 National Security Strategy is the elimination — or at least de-emphasis — of the phrase “rules-based international order,” referring to a set of rules,