Improving strategic planning in the field of social security in the context of the national security of the Russian Federation

The quality of goal-setting and strategic planning is one of the most important factors in ensuring national security and national development. One of the key areas of ensuring national security is the preservation of the people of Russia and the development of human potential. This includes addressing demographic issues as well as improving the overall standard of living for the population. In this article, the author analyzes the content of both high-level strategic planning documents (the National Security Strategy and the Decree on National Development Goals) in this area and sector-specific documents (the state program "Social Support for Citizens" and the Long-Term Development Strategy of the Pension System), which describe social security instruments aimed at supporting population incomes and stimulating demographic growth. To assess the quality of goal-setting in this area of national security, the author employs a set of "SMART" criteria. The choice of this method is motivated by the need for comparability of assessment in the context of the legislative enshrinement of "SMART" criteria for certain strategic planning documents (state programs). Nevertheless, the universality of the method allows it to be applied to the evaluation of other types of strategic planning documents as well. The conducted analysis identified the main problems of the current strategic planning system. Firstly, despite the specific goals set at the upper level of goal-setting, their achievability remains debatable when compared to the most likely scenarios of statistical forecasts. Secondly, the goals and objectives of lower-level strategic documents often do not meet the SMART criteria and de facto do not decompose the upper-level goals, creating an additional redundant level of goal-setting. Based on the revealed characteristics of goal-setting, conceptual directions for modernizing the content of sector-specific strategic planning documents are proposed. For state programs, it is necessary to ensure a quantitatively defined alignment of program activities with national goals. In turn, sectoral strategies cannot be broader than national goals and should contain a specific list of programs (projects) aimed at their implementation. The conclusions drawn are of practical significance for sectoral government bodies implementing social policies and other bodies involved in strategic planning at the federal and regional levels.