Chris, Zack, and Melanie take a look at the Trump administration’s newly-released US National Security Strategy. Is it a coherent strategy? How will diplomacy, military might, and economic power be developed and deployed to advance American interests? Will the strategy usher in a new Golden Age, and “make America safer, richer, freer, greater, and more powerful than ever before,” as the President claims in the preface? 

Chris has a grievance for the inability of the Navy to design and produce small surface combatants, Zack is pleased with Congress asserting itself in the new NDAA, and Melanie has shoutouts for three friends who are moving on to new adventures in their lives. 

Show Links:

• National Security Strategy of the United States of America, The White House, November 2025. 
• Matt Jamison, “Why I Declined Brigade Command,” LinkedIn, December 2, 2025. 
• Bryan McGrath, “The End of This Road,” Substack, December 1, 2025.  
• Sam LaGrone, “Navy Cancels Constellation-class Frigate Program, Considering Small New Surface Combatants,” USNI News, November 25, 2025.  
• Evan Cooper, The Power of US Cultural Diplomacy, Stimson Center, December 2, 2025.