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President revises security strategy

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration's new national security strategy, in a break with the go-it-alone legacy of President George W. Bush, calls for the U.S. to use its massive military power in concert with friends and allies.

A summary of the U.S. National Security Strategy, obtained today by The Associated Press, also makes the safety of Americans the highest security priority and calls for the U.S. to bolster its power through diplomatic and development efforts.

Presidents use the national security strategy document to set broad goals and priorities for keeping Americans safe. The document has far-reaching effects on spending, warcraft and security strategy. That means a change to that document can have far-reaching effects.

For example, in 2002, President George W. Bush outlined a doctrine of pre-emptive war, a strategy that underpinned the war in Iraq.

The new strategy is expected to repudiate, at least implicitly, that doctrine.

Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, said today the administration will add homegrown terrorism to the strategy document. Terror attacks like the Fort Hood shooting and the failed Times Square bombing have thrust homegrown terrorism into the spotlight recently.

Obama's revision would be the first time that homegrown terror threats were a pillar of the document.

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