nomic and cultural exchanges. It is a significant national interest of the United States that neither mass murder nor gross violations of human rights be acceptable in the world's political life. It is a significant national interest of the United States that immigration across American boundaries not be uncontrolled. Finally, the free and safe movement of American citizens abroad is a significant national interest of the United States.

Key Objectives

The United States seeks to assure its

its prosperity. But Americans recognize that these goals are best assured in a world where others achieve them, too. American strategy, therefore, must engage in new ways—and in concert with others to consolidate and advance the peace, prosperity, democracy, and cooperative order of a world now happily free from global totalitarian threats. At the same time, however-also in concert with othersAmerican strategy must strive to stabilize those parts of the world still beset by acute political conflict. To fulfill these strategic goals in a new age, America's priority objectives and key policy aims-must be these:

FIRST, TO DEFEND THE UNITED STATES AND ENSURE THAT IT IS SAFE FROM THE DANGERS OF A NEW ERA.

In light of the new dangers arising from

Ithe proliferation of weapons of mass

destruction and terrorism, the United States must focus anew on how to maintain a robust and powerful deterrent to all forms of attack on its territory and its critical assets. Non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is of the highest priority in U.S. national security policy in the next quarter century. A higher priority, too, should be given to preventing, through diplomatic and other means, unconventional

attacks on all states. But should prevention and deterrence fail, the United States must have means of active defense against both mortal danger and blackmail. U.S. military, law enforcement, intelligence, economic, financial, and diplomatic means must be effectively integrated for this purpose.

The United States should seek enhanced international cooperation to combat the growing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This should include an effective and enforceable international ban on the creation, transfer, trade, and weaponization of biological pathogens, whether by states or non-state actors. Also, when available and implemented with rigor, cooperative programs to deal with existing stockpiles of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons are cost-effective and politically attractive ways to reduce the dangers of weapons and weapons matériel proliferation.

The United States should also strive to deepen the international normative consensus against terrorism and state support of terrorism. It should work with others to strengthen cooperation among law enforcement agencies, intelligence services, and military forces to foil terrorist plots and deny sanctuary to terrorists by attacking their financial and logistical centers.

The United States should build comprehensive theater missile defense capabilities. It should also build national defenses against a limited ballistic missile attack to the extent technically feasible, fiscally prudent, and politically sustainable. As cruise missile and other sophisticated atmospheric technologies spread, the United States must address the problem of devising defenses against such capabilities. The United States must also develop methods to defend against other, covert means of attacking the United States with weapons of mass destruction and disruption.

The United States must also have specialized forces capable of combating threats and blackmail from those possessing weapons of mass destruction and from terrorism. The magnitude of the danger posed by weapons of mass destruction compels this nation, as well, to consider carefully the means and circumstances of preemption.

The protection of U.S. and international access to outer space and cyberspace must become a high priority of U.S. security planning. Outer space and cyberspace are the main arteries of the world's evolving information and economic systems, and the ability to move ideas and information through them freely is a prerequisite for expanding global freedom and prosperity. Secure access to outer space and cyberspace is also now the sine qua non of the U.S. military's ability to function effectively. Through both technological and diplomatic means, the United States needs to guard against the possibility of "breakout" capabilities in space or cyberspace that would endanger U.S. survival or critical interests.

Despite the political obstacles, the United States should redouble its efforts to deal multilaterally with the diffusion of dangerous dualuse technologies. It must improve its capability to track the destinations and final uses of its own high-technology exports, and it must be prepared to aid allies in similar efforts.

To deal medically and psychologically with potentially large losses of American lives in attacks against the American homeland, U.S. public health capabilities need to be augmented. In addition, programs to ensure the continuity of Constitutional government should be bolstered.

SECOND, TO MAINTAIN AMERICA'S SOCIAL COHESION, ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS, TECHNOLOGICAL INGENUITY, AND MILITARY STRENGTH.

enhancement of existing U.S. alliances and friendships. By strengthening relations with allies and friends, the United States extends both its influence and the zone of peace and stability.

In Europe, the United States should be prepared to support the evolution of an independent European Union defense policy in a manner consistent with the unity of the Atlantic Alliance. Forward-stationed forces, as the embodiment of overall U.S. capabilities and commitments in Europe, should remain an essential ingredient in that regional security alliance. The United States should also promote the concept of a Transatlantic Free Trade Area (TAFTA), as well as encourage the integration of East and Central European democracies into Atlantic and European economic institutions based on free trade.

The United States should expand the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to all the democracies of the Western Hemisphere. It should deepen its ties within this hemisphere and seek to strengthen the Organization of American States (OAS). Whatever the merits of "exporting" democracy, there can be little doubt that helping to bolster democracies where they have come to exist of their own exertions should be high on the list of U.S. priorities. Nowhere is such an effort more important than in the Western Hemisphere.

In the Asia/Pacific area, the U.S.-Japan alliance should remain the keystone of U.S. policy. The United States should seek a more equal strategic partnership and a free trade agreement with Japan. In a region where old rivalries persist and reconciliation and integration have not advanced as far as they have in Europe, U.S. alliance and security ties with Korea, Australia and New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, and others remain critical. Such ties

compose a regional security community resting solidly on the assurance provided by U.S. engagement and power. The United States should also support the growth of multilateral institutions for regional security and prosperity, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

The United States should plan now for the possibility of Korean reunification. Some American troops should remain in a unified Korea as a factor of reassurance and stability in the region, including for the purpose of ensuring that a unified Korea remains without nuclear weapons.

The United States has a continuing critical interest in keeping the Persian Gulf secure, and must accept its share of the burden for so doing. In that light, it must be a high priority to prevent either Iraq or Iran from deploying deliverable weapons of mass destruction. The United States should also support the emerging collaboration of friendly states-notably Israel, Turkey, and Jordan and seek to broaden such a collaboration to include Egypt and Saudi Arabia, among others. Assisting the diplomatic settlement of the Arab-Israeli dispute will advance that prospect.

In collaboration with other OECD countries, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), and international development institutions, the United States should assist sub-Saharan Africa to build stronger economies and strengthen institutional cohesion and democratic ideals. In the economic field, emphasis should be put on promoting private investment, helping to develop West Africa's offshore energy resources, and providing debt relief and humanitarian aid (including resources to combat the AIDS epidemic). The United States should promote the professionalization of African militaries within