Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Thinking About Strategic Threats
Peter Archambault, Directorate of Defence Analysis, Department of National Defence
Abstract
I’m going to talk today about how to look at the security environment from a North American perspective in order to think about strategic threats. I’m not here to talk about operational or tactical threats, how to respond to them or even how to prevent them. I am here to talk about how to frame the problem for policymakers. My contention is that threats to North America have to be understood in the broad context of American preeminence in the international system today and the foreseeable future. Before thinking about direct threats to the continent, therefore, we must think about how US power might be threatened and by whom.