The National Security Strategy articulates the priorities of the Administration in terms of the policies and tools employed to meet the principal international security threats to the United States. The International Affairs Strategic Plan sets out a comprehensive and systematic vision of United States national interests. In addition to including challenges and threats to national security articulated in the National Security Strategy, the IASP encompasses the range of U.S. international affairs goals and activities of all USG agencies overseas. The IASP is the International Affairs Strategic Plan, not the Foreign Policy Strategic Plan. The distinction is significant.
International affairs is a big tent that covers the full range of U.S. national interests.
These range from traditional high policy issues related to ensuring national security and maintaining international economic stability, to protecting American citizens abroad and responding to global challenges to health and the environment. In contrast, foreign policy as used here is the integral part of international affairs that focuses on the conduct of relations with other nation states and international organizations in pursuit of these national interests. In this revised version of the IASP, we have recast the relationship between national interests and strategic goals, but have not fundamentally changed the Plan's structure. Whereas the original IASP viewed interests and goals hierarchically, the current version breaks this direct link between the two. The 16 strategic goals portray what we want to achieve through our strategies, programs, and activities, while the seven national interests portray why we do so on behalf of the security, prosperity, well-being, and values of the American people.