Center for Strategic Communication

Welcome to the third edition of American Security Quarterly !

This edition of the American Security Quarterly contains work by our board members, staff, and adjunct fellows. Topics range from a new national security strategy, the use of smart power. climate change, Afghanistan and fusion, to energy choices, the euro crisis plus Iran and our nuclear security.

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD ASQ HERE

Introduction

I often get asked how the American Security Project picks its topics to study.    From our inception, our board of directors was interested in a candid, honest dialogue about issues that impact our national security but rarely were put into that context.  That started initially with climate change and energy security.   Those two issues had many intersections – for example, various forms of energy generation are huge pollutants, hence contributing immensely to climate change.   And climate change is having an impact on immigration, water supply, and many other factors that made us link it to terrorism and nuclear security.   And then all those topics were linked to American competitiveness.  We continued to expand our studies and have since added on public diplomacy, among others.

In this issue you will find a compendium of articles written by our staff, adjunct fellows, and interns.  They are all worth reading.  The authors have been to the NATO Summit; they have been to Afghanistan; they have been to the National Ignition Facility.  They are knowledgeable  and articulate about a wide variety of subjects.  ASP is proud of them and their work.  Please understand that while they have an association with ASP, their writings and opinions are their own.

We publish them hoping that you can draw your own conclusions about the impact on national security that each of their subjects has.  We all come at this from a non-partisan perspective – our primary interest is the national security of the United States.

BGen Stephen A. Cheney USMC (ret.)

American Security Quarterly – July 2012