The Early Twentieth Century
Modern U.S. national security policy and activities had their origins in intelligence gathering, code-breaking, and monitoring of international cables conducted during World War I (1914–18). In the following decade mechanical cipher machines automated encryption (the process of translating a message into an encoded message), and aerial photography enhanced surveillance capabilities.
During World War II (1939–45) U.S. military intelligence activities intensified. Cryptographers triumphed when they deciphered Japanese codes, and radar emerged as yet another means of surveillance. At the close of World War II, the United States emerged as the most powerful nation in the world. Still much of the world was ideologically and politically divided between the capitalist camp, headed by the United States, and the communist bloc (a group of nations), led by the Soviet Union. The fear and distrust that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union prompted the cold war (1946–90), a period of suspicion and rivalry that rapidly progressed to overt hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union. Cold war policies, particularly the emphasis on military readiness, laid the foundation for national security policy for decades to come.
The cold war standoff led to a massive arms expansion on both sides. Although the Soviet Union had a stronger military land force, America's naval superiority and its sole possession of the atomic bomb until 1949 gave it unrivaled power. An evaluation conducted by a joint Department of State/Department of Defense committee, which delivered its findings to the National Security Council in 1950 in a document labeled NSC 68, also spurred the U.S. military buildup. The document called for a massive buildup and increased funding for the armed forces in an effort to prevent the expansion of Soviet influence. This "containment" policy shaped U.S. national security thinking for decades.
U.S. policies for containing the Soviet Union were further supported by the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. The 1947 Truman Doctrine was a response to a growing communist threat in Greece and Turkey and marked the beginning of U.S. intervention around the world in the name of anticommunism. President Truman stressed the duty of the United States to combat totalitarian regimes (governments that seek total control of economic and political matters as well as the attitudes, values, and beliefs of the populace) worldwide. In an address before a joint session of Congress on March 12, 1947, he stated: "I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes."
The Marshall Plan, named for its author, Secretary of State George C. Marshall, was an economic aid package intended to help restore the economies of Europe (including West Germany) following the end of World War II. The plan served to re-establish stability in Europe and promote American interests.
In July 1947 the National Security Act created the National Military Establishment (Department of Defense), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), an independent Air Force (the Air Force had formerly been a division of the Army), and a cabinet-level Secretary of Defense. In 1948 the Armed Forces Security Agency was created to oversee the military intelligence agencies—Army Security Agency, Naval Security Group, and Air Force Security Service. One year later, in 1949, the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb.
The 1950s
During the 1950s the Korean War (1950–52) and advances in Soviet nuclear technology led the United States to reassess its strategic national security policies. Enormous military buildup and nuclear weapons made both the Soviets and Americans virtually impenetrable. In the mid-1950s President Dwight Eisenhower sought to achieve a balance between military spending and the health of the domestic economy. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (the chairman, vice chairman, Chief of Staff of the Army, Chief of Naval Operations, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and the Commandant of the Marine Corps) examined U.S. strategic forces and made several recommendations:
- Withdrawal of some U.S. troops from abroad
- Creation of a mobile strategic reserve (a well-prepared, well-trained, and well-equipped military unit on reserve—as opposed to active duty—that could be mobilized quickly in the event of a threat to national security)
- Strengthening alliances while allowing allied forces to rely primarily on their own defenses
- Further investment in U.S. air defenses
In 1954 President Eisenhower introduced his "New Look" policy, which implemented these recommendations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It also articulated the threat of massive retaliation as a deterrent against Soviet aggression. "Massive retaliation" involved instantaneous reaction to any Soviet threat using any means necessary, including nuclear weapons. U.S. officials reasoned that the Soviet Union would not attack the United States, even if it knew it could do major damage, if it knew that the inevitable result of such an attack would be severe damage to itself.
Also during the 1950s science and technology began to play an increasing role in American intelligence gathering and strategy. In March 1950 the United States Communications Intelligence Board was created, and in 1952 President Truman created the National Security Agency (NSA) under the authority of the Secretary of Defense. The NSA replaced the Armed Forces Security Agency and initially focused on code-breaking and other intelligence activities.
"Vulnerability of U.S. Strategic Air Power," a RAND report issued in April 1953, asserted that the United States was at risk of attack by Russian bombers because the country lacked a warning system. The report also assailed U.S. intelligence gathering capabilities and along with the perceived intelligence failures during the Korean War, it prompted the NSA to establish the first worldwide network of listening posts to intercept and monitor communications. Initially equipped with radio receivers, the stations quickly employed more sophisticated technology, including radar, computers, and satellites to obtain information.
The 1960s
The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis demonstrated the utility of the U.S. intelligence community's increasing ability to collect and analyze information. NSA listening posts detected communications between Russian ground controllers and Cuban pilots that revealed the Soviet Union's intention to move missiles into Cuba. U.S. surveillance flights over Cuba detected the Cuban missile sites, and enhanced intelligence capabilities proved to be pivotal in assisting the U.S. strategic management of the crisis.
The rapid nuclear arms buildup by both the Soviets and the Americans prompted the United States to reconsider its heavy reliance on nuclear weapons and to explore other policy options. Under the administration of President John F. Kennedy, the 1960s witnessed the beginning of yet another national security doctrine, called "flexible response." It was developed as the United States began to reexamine its diminishing reliance on conventional weapons and the increasing role played by tactical nuclear weapons in Europe. Many U.S. policy makers and military leaders believed that if tensions heightened considerabably little would prevent an escalation from use of tactical nuclear weapons (small-scale nuclear weapons for use on the battlefield) to strategic nuclear weapons (more powerful weapons used to strike an enemy's military, economic, or political power sources). Policy makers speculated not only that the doctrine of massive retaliation would be ineffective when dealing with lower-level conflicts, such as clashes with Soviet proxies in smaller countries, but also that a real possibility existed that the world might become engaged in an all-out nuclear war.
Flexible response policy gave the president the ability to choose the appropriate level of force needed to deal with a wide range of challenges. The president could opt for a massive nuclear retaliation or a limited counterforce (attacking only the opponent's force structure) or countervalue (attacking the opponent's cities and populace) nuclear strike. Conventional forces were also strengthened and improved under this doctrine in order to shift away from heavy reliance on nuclear weapons. The military reserves and National Guard were expanded, the number of navy warships and army divisions was increased, and counterinsurgency (antirevolution or antirevolt) forces were enlarged. These conventional military forces were put to use in fighting the Soviet-backed North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War (1959–75).
Flexible response did not mean the end of the buildup of U.S. and Soviet nuclear weapons. By the late 1960s both the Soviet Union and the United States had acquired second-strike nuclear capability, meaning that each country was able to mount a serious retaliation against a nuclear strike on its territory.
The close of the decade saw the intensified efforts to gather domestic and foreign intelligence. The Intelligence Evaluation Committee (IEC) was established, the CIA ordered installation of monitoring devices in foreign embassies, and the NSA initiated a program that monitored the communications of some six hundred American citizens.
The 1970s
By the 1970s serious questions about U.S. national security policy arising from the unsuccessful American intervention in the Vietnam conflict prompted another reevaluation. The need for U.S. involvement to counter communism and contain the Soviet threat was coming under increasing scrutiny by both U.S. critics and the world at large. During this period U.S. policy makers developed the idea of "strategic sufficiency" (maintaining enough military might to deter the enemy from coercing a country or its allies) in order to preserve the doctrine of flexible response while simultaneously ensuring enough retaliatory power to guarantee mutually assured destruction (MAD) in case of a war. To reduce tensions and the possibility of a conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, the administration of President Richard M. Nixon introduced the concept of "détente." As part of this approach, representatives of the United States and the Soviet Union met in 1969 for the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT I), in hopes of limiting the number of missiles each country deployed. In May 1972 Richard Nixon became the first American president to visit the Soviet Union, and he signed the SALT I Treaty, freezing the number of missiles at current levels for five years. President Nixon also pledged to increase trade and scientific cooperation between the two countries in such areas as space exploration.
In 1978 the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act authorized the creation of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court—eleven judges with the authority to issue warrants to the FBI and NSA for domestic surveillance. The following year the Special Collection Service (SCS)—a joint organization of CIA and NSA—began deploying trained agents on intelligence gathering missions.
The End of the Cold War
The cooperation of the détente period ended with the election of President Ronald W. Reagan in 1980. Reagan believed the Soviet Union had benefited disproportionately under détente and that the United States was held to fewer nuclear missiles than the Soviet Union. In addition Reagan believed that a renewed arms race would bankrupt the economically unsound communist regime and hasten its collapse. During the Reagan administration, spending on the U.S. military increased sharply. While some observers claim the collapse of the Soviet Union was the result in part of the heavy losses the Soviet army suffered in its invasion of Afghanistan (1979–88), others credit Reagan's defense spending as driving the weak Soviet economy to the breaking point. What is undeniable is that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Soviet Union fell apart. Eastern European states previously dominated by the Soviets overthrew their communist governments, and in 1991 the Soviet Union itself broke down into over a dozen different nations, of which Russia was by far the largest.
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