The article examines the development process of the national level security strategies in the United States. It explains the basic theory of the strategy-making, as well as the primary processes and relations among the major security enterprises. The author focuses on the 2017–2018 timeframe due to the significant changes in the U.S. legislative system and exceptional personalities involved in the strategy-making process. However, the article delivers a military perspective on strategy development. Still, it does not exclude general information on the U.S. political arena, legal framework, scope of the documents, or historical facts. These data facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of the complex political-military relations during the strategy-making process. The primary purpose of the article is to analyze coherent, layered strategic planning process during President Donald Trump administration (2017–2020) and draw significant conclusions, which other countries might implement in their planning system.

The article is devoted to the theoretical substantiation of contextual methodology of formation of diagnostic competence of future officers – specialists of physical training and sports in higher military educational institutions. Scientific approaches of foreign and domestic scientists to the concept of “methodology” are analyzed and generalized and the author’s definition of the concept “methodology of forming diagnostic competence of future officers – specialists of physical training and sports in the process of professional and pedagogical training” is proposed. Research methods: theoretical analysis of scientific literature; generalization and interpretation of the obtained theoretical and empirical data; design of contextual methodology of diagnostic competence formation. It contains the leading idea or principle, goals, objectives, stages, content, methods, methodological techniques and means of its formation in the process of professional-pedagogical education. The importance of introducing the special course “Diagnostic competence of future officers – specialists in physical training and sports and its formation in higher military educational institutions” is revealed and substantiated. It synthesizes, systematizes and concretizes the content of all their professional-pedagogical competence on the implementation of their diagnostic function in their future position in the troops. The content of the special course includes the following topics: Topic 1. Future officer – specialist of physical training and sport: concept, content and structure as a subject of educational activity in higher military educational institutions. Theme 2. Diagnostic activity of an officer – specialist of physical training and sport as a subject of military-professional activity in higher military educational institutions. Topic 3: Diagnostic competence of officers – specialists of physical training and sport as a component of military- -professional competence in military units. Theme 4. Methodology of formation of diagnostic competence of future officers – specialists in physical training and sports as subjects of diagnostic activity in higher military educational institutions. The following stages of method realization are defined: diagnostic-motivational; cognitive-activational; evaluative- resultant.