It's kind of interesting to note that France has arrested significantly more suspected jihadists than any other European country. Some of this could potentially be explained by the fact that France (at least in 2018) has the highest proportion of Muslims to non-muslims in all of Europe, largely due to migration from the Maghreb and the Sahel. Though of course, not all Muslims are Jihadists, and this correlation does not equate to causation. A more prominent factor may be the fact that France has historically had some shaky relationships with Muslim countries. Wounds from French colonial regimes in Algeria, Tunisia, and Morroco remain to this day, and French presence in the Sahel and the middle east may fuel hatred against them. More recently, France banning the hijab and President Macron's controversial comments about Islam may further widen the rift between France and the Muslim world, leading to more risk for terrorist attacks in France.

I was glad to see that the EU is taking cooperation with Southern Mediterranean states seriously. As @Nadeen Ghazy noted, information sharing agreements are key to combating terrorism and organized crime. And as the document notes, instability in any of these countries has the potential to directly impact European security. I wish the document had gone slightly more in-depth about counter-terrorism partnerships in the Sahel. The instability in the Sahel is of prime concern for Europe, as it can fuel crime and terrorism in other nearby countries and could lead to a variety of issues for Europeans. I would be interested in what countries in the region were of particular concern for Europe, or if there were many in the area that the EU was pursuing partnerships with.

Financial crimes can destroy people's lives, and I imagine this has gotten worse since 2016 as the scope of the internet of things continues to grow and more people move financial assets online. According to CNBC, in just 2017, 15.4 million people were targets of identity theft or fraud and they lost as many as $16 billion. So I would imagine that for many people, this is a real threat that could seriously damage their financial stability. This is definitely something that more organizations will need to account for as cybercriminals get better and better at stealing money.

The pandemic is hitting many regions of the world very hard. African economies are also being damaged significantly. Forty million people could be forced into poverty by the virus in Africa. Eastern and Southern Africa have been hit particularly hard, and the island nations (Seychelles, Mauritius, Comoros) have seen a dip in their growth due to a decrease in tourism. Petroleum exporting economies have also gotten hit very hard, and Nigeria's recovery to pre-pandemic rates of growth may take some time. All of which severely degrades the economic security of the continent. But as with every crisis situation, the negative effects come with opportunity, and Africa is also using the chance to rebuild their economy in a way that will allow them to accelerate growth and provide more, better jobs to people as the population of the continent explodes. Hopefully this pattern of innovation continues across the continent and fosters positive growth for decades to come.

@Madeline Smith Indeed it is important to consider the purchasing power of different nations. The value of one US dollar can buy very different things around the world. China's poverty rate may be artificially low even when factoring in purchasing power parity. A Big Mac in China is roughly 20 Yuan, while a Big Mac in the US is around $5. This means that in China, living at the poverty line will allow one to purchase 115 Big Macs while in the US, living at the poverty line (around $12,760) would allow one to purchase 2,552 around Big Macs. This is a drastic difference in the power of these currencies. While this isn't a perfect comparison, as I would imagine lifestyles and the cost of goods vary drastically across China, it does suggest that China's poverty rate is artificially low. Even though China has cut the poverty rate from around 50% to .6%, this means very little if the cost of everything around people is increasing.

Many of these trends are worrying, but they suggest a need to rejuvenate the economy by embracing new industries that require new technology and new skills. Continuing education will be an essential component. The POWER program, launched by former President Obama seeks to do this for displaced coal miners in Appalachia. Some of the types of jobs they try to educate for are in IT for eCommerce, agriculture, tourism, and construction. These are the types of programs that are essential for increasing wages in the future.

It is somewhat surprising to see that despite all their differences, the US and China actually are facing many of the same issues in terms of economic security. China also has a very high GINI coefficient (a measure of income equality in a country), actually higher than the US, which suggests that they have a large problem with income inequality. But unlike the US, Chinese wages have been growing consistently, which US wages have stagnated. Though as China's GDP growth continues to slow down, this may change. I also agree that it would be interesting to see some more variables factored into this report. I think looking at different regions or sectors of the economy would be really interesting and paint a holistic opinion of economic security around the country.

A major goal of any country's foreign policy strategy should be to secure economic wellbeing for its citizens. Internal economic issues can distract from other policy goals of an administration and lead to stagnation of a nation's influence and ability to project power abroad. After all, it is hard to unify a country around a foreign policy goal when its citizens are not confident the government can satisfy their needs at home. It is also hard to justify spending money on aid programs, security programs, or wars when most Americans don't even feel they have the ability to secure their own interests, let alone the interests of others. It is for these reasons that it is vital we study domestic as well as foreign policy issues to get a full picture of a nation's status. A nation that is able to create an opportunity for its citizens and maintain their wellbeing will present a stronger and more unified front abroad. As evidence for this, we can look to Africa, where economic instability is a reality for many citizens across the continent. Unemployment is one of the biggest issues that the African people face, with one Afrobarometer survey suggesting it was the number one issue for Africans. Widespread unemployment and a lack of economic security are what motivate many to seek opportunities with terrorist groups or criminal organizations, which as can be seen in Mali and Burkina Faso, can undermine the state's core institutions and be detrimental to the security of the region. The findings of this document were pretty interesting. Given the increase of wealth inequality in the US over the past couple of decades, it was not much of a surprise to me that the wages of the highest earners had seen impressive jumps in their incomes. I was also not very surprised to learn that high school workers' wages have actually declined, as we move to an increasingly advanced economy that requires specialized educations to stay valuable. It was also good to see that women with college degrees had seen substantial improvements to their earnings. Perhaps the biggest cause for concern is the relative stagnation of the middle class. This suggests that the US economy is not doing a good enough job of creating economic opportunity for most Americans, and perhaps signals the need for a better-educated society that can pursue more competitive jobs. Though this could potentially also a side effect of decreased economic growth, as US GDP growth rates have been declining over the last couple of decades as the US economy evolves. It was also really interesting to note that increased education had a positive association with the number of hours worked. Which further suggests that in this economy, education creates opportunity. I would be interested to read the other briefs in this series to get a better idea as to what specific challenges pressure US economic security and to see what recommendations they put forward to better American economic security in the future.

I agree it will be interesting to see future NMS strategies develop as the Space Force does. I would really like to see an NMS address the issues of satellite defense, protecting American companies in space, and the logistical protections required for space transportation. Indeed the next few years will be an interesting time to follow developments in the US armed forces.

As with the NSS and the NDS, this platform was in line with the Trump administration's broader foreign policy goals. However, I think it is somewhat interesting to look at how each document seemingly got less and less political. The NSS repeatedly brought up the idea of "America First," and some of the administration's harsh rhetoric towards China and its relegation of environmental policy could also be found across the continent. But the NDS, other than citing the return to great power competition, was largely non-partisan. This is good, as it is not in the best interest of America for our national security organizations to function too politically at the base level.

It will definitely be interesting to see how the next administration handles cybersecurity issues. I wonder if Biden's shifting of the top US enemy from China towards Russia will impact the cyber policy at all. If he does back down from the great power competition, this could alter the way that the US handles cybersecurity. It will be very interesting to see what the next NSS looks like.

I have now read the National Security Strategy, the National Defense Strategy, and the National Military Strategy and it has been interesting to see how each strategy gets more specific as each one's scope gets smaller. The NSS sets out a strategy to mobilize many different sectors of the US government to achieve broad goals. The NDS then specifically narrows in to focus on how the Pentagon can work to achieve these goals, while the NMS narrows even further to look at what specifically the joint chiefs and the combatant commanders can do to achieve these goals. It is really interesting to watch this strategy continue to narrow further and look at how each part of the US government individually works to accomplish the same broad goals. Much of the NMS did not come as too much of a surprise for me. The shift from regional to global conflict and the identification of China and Russia as two of the largest security threats for the US is reflective of the trend towards "great power competition" as laid out in the NSS and the NDS. I will say I was glad to see the Joint Chiefs of Staff recognize that the armed forces need to be prepared for more global conflicts. Paul Millers "Five Pillars of American Grand Strategy" notes that sticking to the idea that our military needs to be able to fight a two-front war at any given time is antiquated, as the US could potentially need to have troops stationed in many different theaters all over the world due to the nature of modern warfare. This version of the NMS is nearly outdated at this point, as the Biden administration is sure to redirect many of the US chief foreign policy and national security objectives. Michele Flournoy is the current frontrunner for the position of Secretary of Defense. Somewhat counter to Biden, she continues to assert that China is a great threat to the US, and as such may not drastically alter the current defense department policy. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see revised strategies come out over the next couple of years, and get more detail about what this administration values in its foreign policy.

I wouldn't have expected that China would be willing to accept USAID support. It seems somewhat out of character to them. Especially with Tibet, considering how much China likes to suppress Tibetan culture. Still though, I suppose it is good to see that this is a good link between the countries and perhaps could serve as a tool to improve relations and decrease tensions.

I agree with you completely that USAID is incredibly important. Instability in any country provides potential threats to U.S. interests, as failed states can serve as hubs for terrorists, criminals, and create migration crises. Furthermore, it was once described to me that if a thirsty person is given a bottle of water with an American flag on it, it sends a powerful message. Which is to say that the US can increase its soft power and standing with foreign publics if it continues to be a source for development in the country. The benefits of USAID are immense, and all for a price tag of just under $20 billion, which is relatively small, especially compared to the $740 billion budget of the DoD. I also agree that each mission needs to be tailored to each country. As we have discussed many times prior in these forums, not all countries, democracies, or regions are the same, and each one has unique challenges that need to be adressed. This is in part why I was glad to see that USAID had three separate divisions for Africa so that it could better target specific regions and best suit each countries needs.

Within Africa, I find USAID's Power Africa program to be among their most interesting. The program seeks to add 30,000 megawatts of clean electricity and connect 60 million new homes and businesses to electricity. And much like the Latin America energy program, we reviewed several days prior, the program also seeks to involve more women in the energy workforce. This is a very ambitious program that has many partners, including other governments, international organizations, and private firms. Showing how widespread and complicated the organization of USAID projects can get.

Ethnicity is a major roadblock to democracy and development in many countries. Jason Stearns, author of Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa, once observed that "If the fiercest ideology or ethics that can be found in the country is ethnic, that is because no other institution has been strong enough for the people to rally around." As such, this is definitely something that USAID should take into account when promoting democratic governance. USAID notes this as a problem when working in Ethiopia, and has initiated the Conflict Mitigation and Reconciliation in Oromia-Somali Administration Boundary project. This project seeks to bring together the Oromo and Somali ethnic groups and foster dialogue between them to promote "peaceful coexistence." Although clearly, USAID has not been universally effective at healing ethnic divides, as the current Tigray crisis rages on.

As a specialist in Africa, USAID is an organization that comes up frequently in my research. In 2019, $8.3 billion was distributed across 47 African countries, showing the impact this organization has on the development of African countries. Within Africa, there are eight regional programs that seek to advance USAID's goals across different regions and different functions. These offices being east, west, south, Sudanese, the office of development programs, the office of sustainable development, the office of the assistant administrator, and the administrative management staff. USAID is doing a lot of great work across many different francophone African countries. One of which is the DRC. USAID works to promote fair and transparent elections in the country by providing technical assistance to political parties, improving campaign management, and promoting civic engagement from traditionally underrepresented groups, such as the youth and women. Another interesting thing that USAID does in the DRC to improve democratic governance is providing training to media officials to make access to good information easy for all citizens of the country. USAID also does a lot of work in Burkina Faso, which despite being a fairly stable nation, has only had one democratic transition of power in nearly 30 years. Because of this, USAID does a lot of work in assuring that the young Burkinabe democracy is conducting business transparently and inclusively. USAID has supported 30 civil society organizations across the country, including 12 youth organizations. USAID has also trained 100 members of the independent electoral commission in an effort to build transparent and fair elections. With specific regard to Burkina Faso, I am curious to see how USAID will react to the Burkinabe government declaring certain regions of the country as too dangerous to have voter registration, and denying nearly 400,000 citizens their right to the vote in the November 22 elections. This disenfranchisement could potentially further destabilize the young democracy, and USAID may need to take note of this situation to preserve democratic governance.

With an organization as large as the DoD, constantly repositioning it to be able to deal with changing threats must be a gargantuan task. Naturally, this means that there will be some inefficiencies in the process. This is in part why I liked the idea of a creation of a Deputy Secretary for Resource and Management. This would allow the organization to have better monitoring of its internal processes.

@Madeline Smith Miller did talk a little bit about cyberwarfare, but mostly in a defensive capacity. But I concur with you that a strong cybersecurity program is a great means of diversifying the US arsenal to be better equipped to fight modern wars. Cyberspace is becoming increasingly contested, and with Iran, Russia, China, and possibly North Korea all having proven their capabilities to damage other countries from the cyberspace, this is certainly a type of war the US must consider fighting in the future.,

That intercultural training report is fascinating. Failures to properly think about other cultures and integrate this into one's defense strategy has been plaguing countries for years. In the 19th century in India, the Sepoy Mutiny began in the Bengali Army when rumors spread that lubricated cartridge's the soldiers had to bite off to use the new Enfield rifles were greased with cow and pig lard. An insult to both Hinduism and Islam, two of the largest religions in Islam. This simple failure to properly communicate sparked a massive rebellion, albeit with some deeper root causes, that ultimately ended the rule of the British East India Company in India. The ability and inability of countries operating internationally to successfully communicate and be aware of cultural differences is key to the ability of a foreign operation to be successful. No doubt any discussion of reviewing the organization and management of the DoD should include assuring that their communications, both internal and intercultural. This will be a key part of a DoD adapting to a world where it has to interact with more cultures and more international actors.