Contradictions will weaken new US security plan

Significance

Mattis’s launch speech is one of the first US foreign policy pronouncements of 2018, and since President Donald Trump’s administration released its NSS on December 18, 2017. NSS statements periodically detail the incumbent administration’s intended priorities and approach to foreign, defence and security policy.

Impacts

• Trump’s administration will still need multilateral bodies in foreign policy, but friends and foes may reject ‘America First’.
• The administration will seek increased military spending, modernising forces and infrastructure, including the nuclear arsenal.
• Current congressional frictions over public spending could hinder increasing military spending.
• US focus on non-traditional security threats will grow, with new resources and strategic innovation needed.