Title: What Should America Do If It Can’t Eliminate the Threat?

If America cannot eliminate the threat, what should it do? This question lies at the heart of ongoing strategic debates about how the United States should respond to persistent national security challenges that resist complete eradication.

The 2025 National Security Strategy frames the core dilemma facing policymakers: determining what the United States should want, identifying available means to achieve those objectives, and connecting ends and means into a viable strategy when threats cannot be fully eliminated.

This strategic uncertainty is particularly evident in discussions about Iran’s nuclear programme, where analysts note there are no good options for addressing the challenge through elimination alone.

When complete elimination of a threat proves unattainable, U.S. Authorities may resort to declaring a national emergency under 50 U.S. Code § 1701, which allows the President to exercise specific authorities to deal with unusual and extraordinary threats originating outside the United States that affect national security, foreign policy, or the economy.

Such declarations must be based on a new national emergency determination for each distinct threat, and the authorities granted under section 1702 may only be exercised for the specific purpose outlined in the emergency declaration and cannot be repurposed for other objectives.

The Annual Threat Assessment from the U.S. Intelligence Community regularly evaluates persistent challenges including cyber threats, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and economic issues, providing an unclassified summary of current dangers that may resist total elimination.

In cases where threats endure, national security strategy emphasizes vigilance during visa-issuance processes to prevent harmful actors from entering the country, identification of threats before admission, and ensuring admitted individuals do not advocate for or support designated foreign threats to national security.

This approach reflects a shift from elimination-focused policies toward risk management strategies that combine prevention, containment, and mitigation when total threat removal is not feasible.

The Strengthening Tools to Counter the Use of Human Shields Act and the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act of 2022 represent recent legislative efforts to refine the tools available for addressing specific categories of persistent threats through targeted authorities.

when elimination is not possible, the United States must determine acceptable risk levels, develop layered defenses, and maintain adaptive strategies that evolve with the threat landscape while preserving core national interests.