Roundup: Obama's new security strategy stresses "collective action"

The Obama administration on Friday unveiled its second and final national security strategy, stressing the importance of "collective action" over unilateral ones in defending U.S. core interests.

In a new document outlining his national security priorities for his final years in office, U.S. President Barack Obama said that while it is important for the United States to act unilaterally against threats to U.S. national interests, "we are stronger when we mobilize collective action," referring to the ongoing U.S.-led airstrikes on the extremist group "Islamic State" (IS) and the joint sanctions imposed with its European allies on Russia.

Obama also said that America should not overreach in dealing with international affairs.

"But, this does not mean we can or should attempt to dictate the trajectory of all unfolding events around world," Obama wrote in an introduction to the White House strategy paper, acknowledging that resources and influence of the United States are not infinite.

"We have to make hard choices among many competing priorities, and we must always resist the over-reach that comes when we make decisions based upon fear," Obama wrote.

The release of the new security memo came at a time when Washington was reportedly rethinking its previous stance on not arming the Ukrainian forces with lethal weapons. Though stating that all options in dealing with the Ukraine crisis were on the table, U.S. top officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, have repeatedly stressed that Washington still regards diplomacy as the way out.

Though mandated by the law to send Congress a national security strategy document annually, most U.S. presidents, including the incumbent, sent the document only sporadically. In his previous memo to Congress in 2010, Obama tried to frame his direction for the administration as a severance of his predecessor, President George W. Bush.

However, critics at home have since then said that Obama was restricted by his overly cautious foreign policy doctrine to keep U.S.troops out of conflicts overseas. The new security memo did not mention a dramatic shift of the U.S. policy towards extremist groups, such as the IS.

"Moreover, we must recognize that a smart national security strategy does not rely solely on military power. Indeed, in the long-term, our efforts to work with other countries to counter the ideology and root causes of violent extremism will be more important than our capacity to remove terrorists from the battlefield," Obama wrote.

Meanwhile, National Security Adviser Susan Rice defended Obama's security memo on Friday, saying that fighting terrorism is a long-term struggle.

"We are strengthening the capacity of weak states to govern their territory and provide for their people, while countering the corrosive ideology of violent extremism," said Rice after the release of the new memo. "To degrade and ultimately defeat the IS, we have assembled a broad coalition that is confronting this scourge from all angles."

U.S.-led coalition armies are currently conducting air raids on IS targets. However, Since a Jordanian pilot was captured and later burned to death by the IS, doubts have arisen among allies over U.S. efforts to conduct rescues. Coalition country UAE has withdrawn from air raids for fear of putting its own pilots in danger. Endi