Paul straddles foreign policy divide

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- For the first time since facing an onslaught of criticism this year over his foreign policy views, Sen. Rand Paul spelled out his national security principles Thursday in a comprehensive speech.

The Kentucky Republican, who's aggressively laying groundwork for a potential presidential campaign, sought to paint himself as a champion of "conservative realism," a doctrine that skates between the hawkish and dovish ends of the foreign policy spectrum.

"Yes, we need a hammer ready, but not every civil war is a nail," he said in New York at the Center for the National Interest, a think-tank founded by former President Richard Nixon.

"We need a foreign policy that recognized our limits, preserves our might and a common sense conservative realism of strength and action," he added.

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Paul attempted to address critics that characterize his views as isolationist and was aiming to approach his speech Thursday from the perspective of a major, would-be U.S. leader, rather than a lawmaker, a spokesman told CNN before the speech.

He sketched out how and when he would advocate for the use of force, saying he would only do so if he felt the United States or its interests were threatened. He said he supported the response to al Qaeda after 9/11, for example, but disagrees with the continued U.S. presence in Afghanistan.

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"It's hard to understand our current objective. Stalemate and perpetual policing seems to be our mission now in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria," he said. " A precondition for the use of force must be a clear end and a goal."

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Paul straddles foreign policy divide