ABSTRACT
A national strategy that employs all the elements of national power is developed and, finally, a military strategy is formulated to execute the military's role in the national strategy. This strategic process is based on four major propositions. These four propositions—rationality, political realism, political purpose, and civilian control—are all reflected in strategic process. One of the consequences of the application of nuclear energy to military uses is that strategy is no longer episodic, being invoked only during wartime. At the national military strategy level, the senior military leadership and the defense establishment interact with other governmental agencies in the development of national security policy and national strategy. In the development of military strategy, the most salient feature is the concept that national security policy must dominate the process. Policy performs two distinct functions within the strategic process. First, it establishes the political objectives that the military strategy must achieve. Second, it establishes the political context within which strategy must operate.
