Leadership needs to respect knowledge and the potential of people to use it. Without a strong educational component in a society, and an environment that values knowledge and critical thinkers, there is little hope for that society to grow and develop. There is certainly no hope that it can sustain leadership in a global sense. Education is a foundation for which there is no substitute, whether that education takes place in a traditional way or on the factory floor. National security also requires a healthy market-based economy, with a strong industrial base of globally competitive industries that continuously improve their quality and productivity, and produce jobs and more jobs.
Economic security is a major element of national security.
If we are using the broadest definition of national security, there can be no question of the need to include the economic viability of our nation. And, without jobs, there are no taxes and thus no military capability. But beyond the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard, without healthy industries providing jobs, the quality of life deteriorates to a point where hunger leads to the disintegration of society. It leads to strife on many different levels. National security goes to the very core of how we define who we are as a people, and a free society.