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This article presents early observations from the experiences of two early adapters of a new generation of national security strategies, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The new strategies are broader in scope in addressing security challenges and are “whole of government,” even increasingly “whole of society” in nature. The strategy development process takes advantage of new mechanisms whereby governments can sense and prioritize quickly changing security challenges, adaptively plan for those challenges, and anchor the strategies in regular policy and budget cycles. The national security strategy experiences of both countries illustrate common themes and challenges that other countries might consider, ranging from fundamentally understanding the importance of a national security strategy as an effective frame of reference for national security decisions to the importance of administrative actions to keep the strategy “evergreen,” whether through a formal or informal assessment process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]