What will Donald Trump’s National Defense Strategy mean for Americans and its citizens?

Jan 24, 2018

2 min

Craig Albert, PhD

The Department of Defense recently published an unclassified synopsis of the Trump administration’s first National Defense Strategy (NDS).


The document, is missing the usual and sometimes expected Trump-like rhetoric of ‘America First’ and instead focuses on a balanced and cooperative approach among nations.


At Augusta University, our experts have been examining the strategy, they have found that within the NDS the following stood out:


• More money will be spent on military, private military contracting firms and cyber firms. This could benefit the local economy but does show that we’re worried.


• Our military is growing more high-tech with artificial intelligence and robotics. The future of warfare could start to resemble something out of Hollywood.


• For the last two decades, we were concerned with small-scale wars, counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism. Now, we are preparing our military for a Great Power War. In other words, we are preparing for a WWII type engagement, versus Iraq or Afghanistan.


• Trump’s policy is very assertive whereas Obama’s policy was more conciliatory and forgiving in nature.


• We are clearly focused on reasserting ourselves as the superpower.


But what will this mean for every-day Americans? Will it be a boost to our economy as we invest in our military or will it mean other programs suffer as a result?


Are we on the verge of another cold war?


There are a lot of questions to answer – and that’s where our experts can help.


Dr. Craig Albert is an expert on American politics and political philosophy. He was recently appointed director of Augusta University’s new Masters of Arts in Intelligence and Security Studies. Dr. Albert has experience with all forms of national and local news organizations and is available to speak to media regarding Donald Trump’s National Defense Strategy. Simply click on his icon to arrange an interview.


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Craig Albert, PhD

Craig Albert, PhD

Graduate Director, PhD in Intelligence, Defense, and Cybersecurity Policy and Master of Arts in Intelligence and Security Studies

Dr. Craig Albert focuses on propaganda, information warfare, national security studies, cyberconflict, and political thought.

Political PhilosophyEthnic ConflictInfluence OperationsCybersecurity Policy & StrategyInternational Security Studies
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