American power and the Obama presidency

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The Obama administration will take office during a time when America is at war on two fronts, making national security a top priority, an analysis says.

American voters elected Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., as the next president by an overwhelming majority Tuesday. With Thursday marking the first day President-elect Obama is privy to daily intelligence briefs from Washington, his first days in office will be overshadowed by looming decisions regarding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama will face decisions regarding the nature of troop deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. defense budget for 2010 and the repercussions left over from former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, an analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington says.

The CSIS report highlights the need for Obama to take immediate action to remedy defense policies that "decoupled" strategic objectives with fiscal discipline.

In addition, it is critical, the report says, for the Obama administration to retool the U.S. Defense Department and national security doctrines to reflect a strategic policy that embraces a civilian partnership with the military.

Meanwhile, on the broader global effort the next president will need to consider the relationship between national security and "geo-economics" while focusing military efforts on finding a tangible balance between asymmetric warfare and nation-building exercises.

"Some of these issues can be deferred for a year or so, but none without cost and making the situation worse," the report says.