The modern conservative movement is divided on foreign policy. On one side are the conservatives who argue that America must stop acting as the world’s policeman and minimize its foreign commitments. Conservatives holding this position are opposed to nation building and possibly also foreign aid, sometimes for ideological reasons and more often for fiscal ones. This non-interventionist viewpoint is often held by libertarians and may be called “isolationist” by its opponents.
On the other side are the national security conservatives, sometimes called “national security hawks,” who have our nation’s foreign policy and domestic security as their core issues. National security conservatives argue that where a material American interest is at stake, America must act swiftly and boldly. And they look at American interests more broadly, when compared with non-interventionists.
National security conservatives tend to be strong supporters of the state of Israel, which is a majority American position that is held by many on the left as well. While the national security conservative viewpoint is largely consistent with neoconservative foreign policy, not all national security conservatives consider themselves neoconservatives. And many do not share the history of the original neoconservatives who defected from the Left to become conservatives.
Former secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld is considered by many within and outside the conservative movement to personify the national security conservative viewpoint. In this essay, Secretary Rumsfeld shares his profound personal insights into the Bush administration’s foreign policy including the Iraq War and the War on Terror.
Donald Rumsfeld has served as both the youngest and the oldest secretary of defense, first under President Gerald Ford, and then under George W. Bush a quarter century after. A former naval aviator, Secretary Rumsfeld previously served as U.S. congressman, U.S. ambassador to NATO, White House chief of staff, special presidential envoy to the Middle East, and chief executive of two Fortune 500 companies. Secretary Rumsfeld chairs the nonprofit Rumsfeld Foundation with his wife, Joyce.