Following the terrorist attack inside the United States on September
11, 200l, the entire national security apparatus in the country has had
to rethink its structure, operations and policies. Institutions and
patterns of behavior used throughout the period of the Cold War, when
the known enemy was another readily identifiable country—the Soviet
Union—need to be rethought and reorganized in an effort to meet the
challenges of the 21st century.The authors of this book
describe the U.S. national security entities which came into being
following the end of WWII. Chief among them is the National Security
Council. It ranks as one of the leading components of the national
security establishment in the United States. Others include the
intelligence agencies and the military. Looking at them and their
individual histories separately, the authors proceed to show how they
interact with one another. With the stated purpose of providing for
national security, their purpose should be clear.Yet, as the
authors note, there is no single, universally accepted definition of
“national security.” Nor is there such a definition for “national
interest.
” As the United States has mobilized its resources to wage a
war on terrorism, those fundamental considerations have given more than
one policymaker, not to mention scholar, cause for pause.Complicating
the matter of strengthening homeland security—the term which has become
widely used in the wake of the events of September 11th—is the
policymaking process. Under the federal structure of government in the
United States, both the executive branch, led by the president, and the
legislative, led by Congress, play key roles in identifying what’s in
the national security interest of the country and providing the
necessary resources to provide such security.The ability of
nonstate actors to jeopardize the stability of societies around the
world through acts of terrorism on a large scale comes as an
unexpectedly menacing threat to the national security establishment of
the United States.