War -Terrorism - National Security

1. War -Terrorism - National Security

2. Introduction: • The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists annually moves the hands on a symbolic clock to represent the level of danger in which humankind lives in the nuclear age. At the beginning of 2007, the Board of Directors, in consultation with a Board of Sponsors that included eighteen Nobel laureates, moved the minute hand of the “Doomsday Clock: from seven to five minutes to midnight, signifying the deteriorating state of global affairs and the imminent danger (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2007). This decision was based on two human-made threats to civilization—the nuclear threat and climate change. In addition, there is terrorism fueled by ideological extremism. These interrelated global problems are at the heart of national security for the United States and worldwide.

3. Conflict and National Security…. • There are threats to U.S. national security. The three greatest threats to civilization in general and U.S. national security in particular are nuclear weapons, climate change, and terrorism. • The Bush Doctrine: the Bush administration developed guidelines of US military action in the war on terror. • Unbounded US military superiority: A second principle of the Bush Doctrine called for building a military “beyond challenge” to give the US the “capability to defeat any attempt by any enemy.” • Unilateral preventive war and the right of regime change….

4. Peace and Preventing War…. • Despite its obvious weaknesses, the most common proposal for preventing war is to urge nations to become so strong that they can deter any possible aggression by their neighbors. A second approach advocates some form of arms control or total disarmament. A third set of proposals calls for social justice and the economic development of poor nations. • If inequality were greatly reduced, then the chief motivation for revolution would disappear and international tensions would relax. Finally many leaders propose that military aggression be eliminated by the development of world government, including world law, world courts, and world law enforcement.

5. Actions Taken…. • Inhumane treatment of suspected terrorists aids the cause of the terrorists—while the Bush administration never suggested the US withdraw from the Geneva Conventions, there has been a pattern of circumventing them. • In 2006, Congress passed the Military Commissions Act which: significantly broadens the definition of “enemy combatant,” removes habeas corpus right of noncitizens, permits aggressive interrogations in secret prisons, and suspends normal rules of evidence and due process. • Congress passed the USA Patriot Act of 2001 which—expanded the ability of law enforcement personnel to conduct secret searches and surveillance, expanded the legal definition of terrorism

6. Conclusion…. • The possible long-term negative consequences of this war include…. • There are lessons to be learned from conducting this new kind of war…. • The war on terrorism has been very costly in human life, injury, and resources.