NSC Flashcards
(244 cards)
Federalist paper 23:
- essay by Alexander Hamilton
- attempts to justify the increased strength of the federal government under the proposed US Constitution compared to the Articles of Confederation
- this paper is entitled “the Necessity of a Government as energetic as the one proposed to the preservation of the union”
- Anti-federalists (critics of the constitution), opposed the expansion of federal power, brought counter arguments against Hamilton’s position
Federalist paper 29:
- essay published by Hamilton
- titled “Concerning the Militia”
- Hamilton states that a well-regulated militia composed of the people will be more uniform and beneficial to the “public defense” of Americans. He argues that an excessively large militia can harm a nation’s work force, as not everyone can leave their profession to go through military exercises. Thus, a smaller, but still well-regulated militia, is the answer.
- Hamilton concludes that the militia, as it is constituted directly of the people and managed by the states, is not a danger to liberty when called into use by other states to do things such as quell insurrections.
Federalist Paper 70:
- essay written by Hamilton
- Titled “the executive department further considered”
- Hamilton argues that unity in the executive branch is a main ingredient for both energy and safety. Energy arises from the proceedings of a single person, characterized by, “decision, activity, secrecy, and dispatch,” while safety arises from the unitary executive’s unconcealed accountability to the people.
Federalist paper 74:
- essay by Hamilton
- Its title is “The Command of the Military and Naval Forces, and the Pardoning Power of the Executive”
- Hamilton justifies the President’s status as the commander of the militia, as well as the President’s power to grant pardons
US Constitution:
- originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government. Its first three articles entrench the doctrine of the separation of powers, whereby the federal government is divided into three branches: executive, judicial and legislative
- In general, the first ten amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, offer specific protections of individual liberty and justice and place restrictions on the powers of government.
- The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States. Under the Articles of Confederation, the central government’s power was quite limited. The Confederation Congress could make decisions, but lacked enforcement powers. Implementation of most decisions, including modifications to the Articles, required unanimous approval of all thirteen state legislatures.
Washington’s Farewell Address:
• Looking at the world, we’re young, it’s young we have to worry about attachments and aversions to foreign powers; they got their own dynamics in Europe and we don’t want to be a part of that. Lets work on us and not get caught up in these attachments and aversions
• Warns us how to conduct ourselves
• The way he lead is reflected in the document
First public expression of NS at that time
Definitions of National Security
• National Security is a term thrown around to describe threats that we are facing at the time
• The thought of who we are and that we want to preserve ourselves
• What is most central to our way of life is the constitutional republic and we want it to endure all enemies throughout time
o Respects the rights of individuals as the sovereign of that nation
State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee:
• a federal committee created in 12/1944 to address the political-military issues involved in the occupation of the Axis powers following the end of WWII
was an important pre-cursor to the NSC, and represents the most successful integration of military and civilian assets in the history of US Foreign Policy
Ferdinand Eberstadt and James Forestall
• Ferdinand:
o Important policy advisor to the US government who was instrumental in the creation of the NSC
o The Eberstadt report identified a serious lack of coordination between the CIA, FBI, State, and military intel services- the report led to the creation of the NSC
• James:
o Cabinet-level US Secretary of the navy and the first Sec Def.
o Help developed the NS Act of 1947 that created the National Military establishment
National Security Act of 1947
• a massive restructuring of the governments military and intel agencies following WWII
• merged the Department of War (now the Department of the Army) and the Department of the Navy into the National Military Establishment.
• Also created the Department of the Air Force
• Established the NSC; a central place of coordination for NS policy in the executive branch and the CIA
o The council’s function was to advise the president on domestic, foreign, and military policies, and to ensure cooperation between the various military and intelligence agencies
o Established the Joint Chief of Staff
• The act was a major component of Truman’s Cold War Strategy
Truman Doctrine
- US Foreign Policy to Stop soviet imperialism during the Cold War
- Announced on 3/1947- when he pledged to contain Soviet threats to Greece and Turkey
- Truman Doctrine implied American support for other nations threatened by Soviet communism
- Became the foundation of American foreign policy: led to the formation of NATO- a military alliance still in effect to this day
Marshall Plan
• an American initiative to aid Western Europe • the US gave $13 billion in economic support to help rebuild Western Europe economies after the end of WWII • goals: o rebuild war-devastated regions o remove trade barriers o modernize industry o make Europe prosperous again o prevent the spread of communism
NSC 68
- top-secret policy paper by the NSC presented to Truman in April 1950
- one of the most important statements of American policy in the cold War
- “provided the blueprint for the militarization of the Cold War from 1950 to the collapse of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the 1990s.”
- advocated a large expansion in the military budget of the United States, the development of a hydrogen bomb, and increased military aid to allies of the United States. It made the containment of global Communist expansion a high priority. NSC-68 rejected the alternative policies of friendly détente or aggressive rollback of the Soviet Union.
Operations Coordination Board
- committee of the ES Executive created in 1953 by Eisenhower’s Executive Order 10483v
- the board which reported to the NSC was responsible for integrating the implementation of national security policy across several agencies
- board was abolished in 1961 by JFK
Massive Retaliation
- a military doctrine and nuclear strategy in which a state commits itself to retaliate in much greater force in the event of an attack
- goal: to deter another state from initially attacking. For it to work, it must be made public knowledge to all possible aggressors
- The aggressor also must believe that the state announcing the policy has the ability to maintain second-strike capability in the event of an attack. It must also believe that the defending state is willing to go through with the deterrent threat, which would likely involve the use of nuclear weapons on a massive scale.
Flexible Response
- defense strategy implemented by JFK in 1961
- implemented to address Kennedy’s skepticism of Eisenhower’s New Look and its Massive Retaliation Policy
- Flexible response calls for mutual deterrence at strategic, tactical, and conventional levels, giving the US the capability to respond to aggression across the spectrum of warfare and not just limiting it to nuclear arms
Bay of Pigs Invasion
- a failed military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the CIA in 1961
- A counter-revolutionary military, trained and funded by the United States government’s CIA Brigade 2506 fronted the armed wing of the Democratic Revolutionary Front (DRF) and intended to overthrow the increasingly communist government of Fidel Castro. Launched from Guatemala, the invading force was defeated within three days by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces under the direct command of Prime Minister Fidel Castro.
- Castro, which severed the country’s formerly strong links with the US after expropriating the assets of US corporations and mobsters, and developing links with the Soviet Union, with whom, at the time, the United States was engaged in the Cold War
Cuban Missile Crisis: 1962
- confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet ballistic missiles deployed in Cuba.
- It played out on television worldwide and was the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.
Containment
- A military strategy to stop the expansion of an enemy
- Best knows as the Cold War policy of the US and its allies to stop the spread of communism abroad
- This policy was a response to moves by the USSR to spread communist influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, Africa and Vietnam
- Represented a middle ground position between détente and rollback
Détente: 1969
• the easing of geo-political tensions between the USSR and the US
• Nixon and Ford called it a “thawing out” or “un-freezing”
• The period was characterized by the signing of treaties:
o SALT 1
o Helsinki Accords
• the two superpowers agreed to install a direct hotline between Washington D.C. and Moscow, enabling leaders of both countries to quickly interact with each other in a time of urgency, and reduce the chances that future crises could escalate into an all-out war.
• Détente ended after the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan
Rollback
- the strategy of forcing change in the major policies of a state, by replacing its ruling regime.
- Reagan instituted a successful rollback strategy against the USSR in the 1980’s
Enlargement
- In between engagement and isolationism
- NATO
- Post-Cold War; taking in the countries of Easter Europe
- Implications: buffer against Soviet expansion
- Consequences: take on a lot more problems
Isolationism
- assertion that a nation’s best interest is best served by keeping the affairs of other countries at a distance
- one possible motivation for limiting international involvement is to avoid being draw into dangerous and otherwise undesirable conflicts
Realism
• a school of thought in IR based on 4 central propositions: o political groupism o egoism o international anarchy o and power politics