The Guiding Principles of the SSN are:
•Inclusive Participation: Includes diverse participants from across the NESA region with a broad representation from the academic and policy communities within those participating countries.
•Vibrant Dialogue: Facilitates dialogue, assists in information exchange, and supports collaborative research projects and programs on issues of shared strategic concern. The SSN supports open, diverse, and candid exchange by all participants.
•Academic Environment: All outputs of the SSN, whether in the form of publications, working group reports, or conferences, are academic in nature.
•Regional Focus: A focus on issues of strategic concern in the NESA region and issues of supra-regional importance, emphasizing those areas where collaborative discussion from within the region offers a unique and critical perspective.