David E. Sanger

Natalie, always great to be with you.

So this is the national security strategy.

And administrations don't turn it out because they want to.

They turn it out because they have to.

Congress actually requires every administration to go do it.

But it also ends up becoming a kind of Rorschach test of what an administration's priorities are.

And in this particular case, as you read this document, it's only about 30 pages long, the thing that really strikes you is that it is a retreat

from the post-World War II bipartisan understanding that the role of the United States is to defend liberty, support democracies around the world, support our allies.

And there's an absence in this strategy of a sort of moral mission for the United States to defend human rights, to defend free speech or free press.

Almost all of that is gone.

And instead, there's one really telling line.

that's on page 12 of the strategy.

It says, the days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over.

Well, our priority is the latest interpretation of America first.

And that means emphasizing not only trade, but making America wealthy.

How many times have you heard President Trump say that?

He said it again on Tuesday night in Pennsylvania, that he would make America rich again on its way to making it great again.

It is a document that is very heavy on how the United States will try to order the world for its benefit.

Well, the president's concept here is that our greatest source of national strength is being the economic leader, the technological leader.

Now, parts of this are quite common with Democrats and other Republican presidents.