One of the greatest challenges that faces every American president is to ensure that events of the day do not become cascading crises that crowd out the pursuit of our nation’s long-term strategic priorities and interests.

This has been particularly true over the past three years, when the US has confronted a daunting array of challenges: global financial crises; the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; terrorist threats; direct challenges to global nuclear non-proliferation regimes; and the still unfolding, events across the Middle East and North Africa.

Even as we have dealt with these dynamics, President Barack Obama has pursued a rebalancing of our foreign policy priorities – and renewed our long-standing alliances, including with Nato – to ensure that our focus and our resources match our nation’s most important strategic interests.