Project North Star: Strategic Foresight for U.S. Grand Strategy

The world we live in today is increasingly characterized as volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous— a set of characteristics commonly abbreviated by the term “VUCA.” In response to challenging and urgent issues, we explored the concept of U.S. National Grand Strategy and investigated whether strategic foresighting methodologies could be used to formulate grand strategies that are resilient in the VUCA environment. This pilot study demonstrates that structured foresight approaches can strengthen the nation’s ability to develop U.S. National Grand Strategy, which will allow it to better shape and navigate toward its aspirational futures.