STRATEGIC

8 Strategic Choices for a Turbulent World: In Pursuit of Security and Opportunity
neither increased expenditure nor international retrenchment automatically
translate into reduced risk to U.S. interests.
These illustrative strategic orientations are not meant to be
caricatures of views that lie along the traditional American foreign
policy spectrum. “International restraint” does not mean across-theboard
retrenchment or isolationism, though it would certainly entail
choices about where and when to commit resources. The President
might actively engage in one region, relying on military pressure
to achieve some ends, while prioritizing diplomatic and economic
tools in another region, and declining to be drawn into a conflict in
another area. Strategic selectivity—avoiding committing the United
States to lead on every issue and bear every burden—is a necessity,
not a weakness.
Likewise, the second, activist orientation implies U.S. leadership
but not interventionism or automatic support for the use of U.S.
military forces, especially large-scale use of ground forces. Nor does it
assume that to remain “indispensable,” the United States must engage
everywhere at all times to defend humanitarian norms or enforce international
law. A President who exercised restraint over U.S. involvement
in the Middle East might launch an ambitious effort to develop an
Asian security architecture, shore up NATO security, or reduce global
greenhouse gas emissions.
The third option, “Agile America,” does not merely seek a “moderate”
middle ground between restraint and activism. Rather, it would
keep the United States fully engaged in the world while prioritizing
pursuit of its economic interests. Recognizing that globalization of
the economy is unstoppable and ultimately beneficial, it aims to retool
U.S. policy to help the country thrive amid the geopolitical and geoeconomic
shifts already under way and those to come.
All three strategic concepts are predicated on at least three overarching
assumptions that have surfaced over the course of the Strategic
Rethink project, and that deserve increased attention from the U.S.
policymaking community.
First, all three orientations are based on the assumption that the
United States does not play the global game alone. An enduring source
of America’s strength is its alliances and international partnerships. As