Obama warns against U.S. ‘overreach’ in new national strategy

Obama warns against U.S. ‘overreach’ in new national strategy

The 29-page document is his first since 2010, which was heavily criticized by Republicans for being not aggressive enough against international bad actors.

President Barack Obama is warning against American “overreach” abroad as he outlines a new national security blueprint for his final years in office — although he defended the notion that the United States should be first and foremost in defending the world against threats such as terrorism and climate change.

In a 29-page document released recently, the White House doesn’t plan any major changes to its approach to Islamic State militants or toward Russia in its conflict with Ukraine, according to an Associated Press report.

It states that terrorism remains a persistent threat, although it has “diminished,” and that the White House would continue to seek to degrade groups like the Islamic State with counterterrorism operations, rather than large-scale ground wars.

He wrote in the introduction to the White House’s strategy paper that the United States would continue to “defend our interests and uphold our commitments to allies and partners,” but that will result in hard choices among competing priorities, and the nation needs to strive against the risk of over-reach “when we make decisions based upon fear,” he added.

The national security strategy is sent to Congress each year by law, although many presidents, including Obama, have often only done so on a sporadic basis — his previous such memo came in 2010.

Congressional Republicans criticized that strategy heavily, with Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) saying that the policy “led the world into chaos.” Typically, his critics have argued that Obama is more in favor of keeping the United States out of world affairs rather than deal with bad actors.

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