Lawrence J. Korb on National Security Priorities in the Obama Administration

What are the most important national security challenges facing the next president?

Well, the next president president has got to decide to balance the competing demands of Iraq and AfghanistanÑwhich to give priority to. He's got to basically decide what to do with Iran, not only because of their move toward nuclear weapons, but because of their support for people causing trouble in Iraq, in Lebanon. He's got to redo our relations with Russia and decide what are the highest priorities, whether it's to get the Russians to work with us in dealing with Iran, get them to decide to cut nuclear weapons, how to deal with the expansion of NATO into the caucuses, and placing missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic.

What should the top national security priority be on January 20, 2009?

The top national security priority has got to be to rebuild the confidence of other nations in the United States, rebuild our image around the world, because we won't prevail in the struggle against violent extremists unless we restore the reputation we had before things like Guantanamo, and Abu Ghraib, and going into Iraq under false pretenses.

What else should the new administration do to address these challenges?

The Bush administration basically has been: unilateral if we can, multilateral only if we must. What the new administration should say is we should be multilateral if we can, unilateral only if we must. What they have to do is change their approach to dealing with the countries around the world and dealing with the threats to the United States. And while military opinions should always be on the table, it should not be the first option as the current administration has done. But we should try diplomacy, and sanctions, and everything else short of military power so that if we have to use it, we will have the support of the rest of the world and the moral legitimacy to do it.