ABSTRACT
Ironic and embarrassing as it may be, the proper context for the discussion of American national strategy is its domestic setting—specifically, our political-economic-social system. Others urge selective commitment or deployment, without, however, relinquishing the situations that might require the main elements of American forces. Therefore, the critical policy variable remains the projected American response to the contingency: if we ceased to plan for the most demanding specific contingencies, the force structure could be considerably reduced. The Reagan Administration is just the latest in a long line, Democratic and Republican, from the beginning of the Cold War, to promote the American paradigm of large-scale deterrence and extensive forward defense or alliance. The charge that the Reagan Administration has changed American strategy by lowering the nuclear threshold deserves a more extended examination. The Reagan Administration's national strategy is a variant on the traditional American national strategy.
