Abstract. The article provides a detailed overview of a new US National Security Strategy presented in February 2015. It compares NSS-2015 with its previous edition (2010) and assesses the balance of continuity and novelty in Obama administration’s approach to international affairs against the background of a deterioration of global strategic situation. The conclusion is drawn that elements of continuity prevail at the macro-level of strategic vision in thinking about the essence of American leadership in the XXI century, linkages between domestic and foreign policies, and use of force. At the meso-level of defining exact security threats and countermeasures Obama administration rules out a strategy of "comprehensive engagement" and opts for an explicit containment of Russia and implicit containment of China.