National Interests

As you work through the crisis, keep these national interests in the forefront of your mind, as they will help guide your decision making.
Click this link to access our slideshow on national interests (archive of 2022).
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Vital Interests

Vital national interests are conditions that are strictly necessary to safeguard and enhance Americans’ survival and well-being in a free and secure nation.

Vital US national interests are to:
  1. Prevent, deter, and reduce the threat of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons attacks on the United States or its military forces abroad;
  2. Ensure US allies’ survival and their active cooperation with the US in shaping an international system in which we can thrive;
  3. Prevent the emergence of hostile major powers or failed states on US borders;
  4. Ensure the viability and stability of major global systems (trade, financial markets, supplies of energy, and the environment); and
  5. Establish productive relations, consistent with American national interests, with nations that could become strategic adversaries, China and Russia.

​​Instrumentally, these vital interests will be enhanced and protected by promoting singular US leadership, military and intelligence capabilities, credibility (including a reputation for adherence to clear US commitments and even-handedness in dealing with other states), and strengthening critical international institutions— particularly the US alliance system around the world.

Extremely Important

Extremely important national interests are conditions that, if compromised, would severely prejudice but not strictly imperil the ability of the US government to safeguard and enhance the well-being of Americans in a free and secure nation.

Extremely important US national interests are to:
  1. Prevent, deter, and reduce the threat of the use of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons anywhere;
  2. Prevent the regional proliferation of WMD and delivery systems;
  3. Promote the acceptance of international rules of law and mechanisms for resolving or managing disputes peacefully;
  4. Prevent the emergence of a regional hegemony in important regions, especially the Persian Gulf;
  5. Promote the well-being of US allies and friends and protect them from external aggression;
  6. Promote democracy, prosperity, and stability in the Western Hemisphere;
  7. Prevent, manage, and, if possible at reasonable cost, end major conflicts in important geographic regions;
  8. Maintain a lead in key military-related and other strategic technologies, particularly information systems;
  9. Prevent massive, uncontrolled immigration across US borders;
  10. Suppress terrorism (especially state-sponsored terrorism), transnational crime, and drug trafficking; and
  11. Prevent genocide.

Important

Important national interests are conditions that, if compromised, would have major negative consequences for the ability of the US government to safeguard and enhance the well-being of Americans in a free and secure nation.

Important US national interests are to:
  1. Discourage massive human rights violations in foreign countries;
  2. Promote pluralism, freedom, and democracy in strategically important states as much as is feasible without destabilization;
  3. Prevent and, if possible at low cost, end conflicts in strategically less significant geographic regions;
  4. Protect the lives and well-being of American citizens who are targeted or taken hostage by terrorist organizations;
  5. Reduce the economic gap between rich and poor nations;
  6. Prevent the nationalization of US-owned assets abroad;
  7. Boost the domestic output of key strategic industries and sectors;
  8. Maintain an edge in the international distribution of information to ensure that American values continue to positively influence the cultures of foreign nations;
  9. Promote international environmental policies consistent with long-term ecological requirements; and
  10. Maximize US GNP growth from international trade and investment.

​​Instrumentally, the important US national interests are to maintain a strong UN and other regional and functional cooperative mechanisms.

Less Important (Secondary)

Less important or secondary national interests are not unimportant. They are important and desirable conditions, but ones that have little direct impact on the ability of the US government to safeguard and enhance the well-being of Americans in a free and secure nation.

Less important or secondary US national interests include:
  1. Balancing bilateral trade deficits;
  2. Enlarging democracy everywhere for its own sake;
  3. Preserving the territorial integrity or particular political constitution of other states everywhere; and
  4. Enhancing exports of specific economic sectors.