The U.S. national security strategy will be based on a distinctly American internationalism that reflects the union of our values and our national interests. The aim of this strategy is to help make the world not just safer but better. Our goals on the path to progress are clear: political and economic freedom, peaceful relations with other states, and respect for human dignity. And this path is not America’s alone. It is open to all. To achieve these goals, the United States will: • champion aspirations for human dignity; • strengthen alliances to defeat global terrorism and work to prevent attacks against us and our friends; • work with others to defuse regional conflicts; • prevent our enemies from threatening us, our allies, and our friends, with weapons of mass destruction; • ignite a new era of global economic growth through free markets and free trade; • expand the circle of development by opening societies and building the infrastructure of democracy; • develop agendas for cooperative action with other main centers of global power; and • transform America’s national security institutions to meet the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century. September 2002