Obama lays out security strategy, warns against ‘overreach’
February 7, 2015
President Barack Obama released an updated national security strategy on Friday that committed the United States to lead on pressing world issues but reflected his cautious policy toward foreign intervention. The 29-page memo to Congress, required under law, broadly outlined Obama’s foreign policy priorities for the final two years of his presidency.
Obama described the most pressing challenges of violent extremism, Russian aggression, cyberattacks and climate change and said they were best addressed by mobilizing international coalitions. But he said the United States needed “strategic patience and persistence” as it does not have infinite resources and said many problems could not be resolved through military might. “We must always resist the overreach that comes when we make decisions based upon fear” Obama said.