Is Food Security National Security? [Audio]
Publisher: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Author(s): Caitlin Welsh
Date: 2025
Topics: Humanitarian Assistance, Renewable Resources
Countries: Ukraine
US government investments in global food security have traditionally received strong bipartisan support from policymakers, either explicitly or implicitly, on moral, economic, and national security grounds. In its first 100 days, the Trump administration has paused or terminated most U.S. foreign assistance, weakened or dismantled U.S. aid agencies, and stated that any future foreign assistance must make America demonstrably stronger, safer, and more prosperous. In times of uncertainty, advocates for U.S. leadership on global food security have leaned on its importance to national security to secure lawmakers’ commitments to protect U.S. funding and programs. Too often, however, these advocates have failed to delineate the connection between food insecurity abroad and U.S. national security at home. Failing to define the links between global food insecurity and U.S. national security can lead to confusion and dismissal of this concept, and risk termination of longstanding programs.