Foreign Policy and National Security

Foreign policy and national security cover how the United States deals with other countries and protects itself from outside threats. This spans diplomacy, military power, intelligence gathering, economic pressure, and the legal rules that govern all of it. The President, Congress, the State Department, the Pentagon, and a web of intelligence and security agencies all play roles, often with overlapping or contested authority.

Diplomacy and alliances. Much of foreign policy happens through International Relations, the ongoing work of managing partnerships, rivalries, and negotiations with other nations, and through Global Security Challenges, which covers alliances, deterrence, and the shifting threats that shape them. The rules and norms that bind these relationships fall under International Law, while questions of how nations treat their own citizens and how the U.S. responds are addressed in Human Rights and Democracy.

Force and information. Defense and Military explains how the armed forces are organized, funded, and deployed, while Intelligence covers the agencies that gather and analyze information used to guide those decisions. Public Safety looks at how threats abroad connect to security decisions at home.

Money, process, and what’s next. Nations also compete through markets and money, a subject covered in Economic Statecraft, which examines tools like sanctions and trade restrictions. Foreign Policy Process explains who actually makes these decisions and how power is divided between the White House, Congress, and the diplomatic and defense bureaucracies. Emerging Issues tracks newer challenges, from cyber threats to space, that don’t fit neatly into older categories but increasingly shape how the country defends its interests.