Analysis of NSC-68 and the Patriot Act
NSC-68
The NSC-68 was a Top-Secret report that was compiled to mitigate the most pressing threat that confronted the United States during the Cold War. Various departments took part in the preparation of the report key among them being the Defense Department and the CIA. The NSC-68 was a significant document as it formed the strategy that the U.S administration would implement during Cold War. In 1949, the United States had foreign policy apprehensions about the development of communism and the detonation of Soviet nuclear devices. The president at the time, President Truman, was deeply concerned about the activities of the Soviet Union and requested that there be a complete review and re-evaluation of the American Cold War diplomacy strategy. To deter the Soviet Union, the president had to support a colossal build-up of nuclear and other conventional arms to protect the country and its allies from attacks orchestrated by the USSR (Cardwell 21). The NSC-68 proposed a program that would preserve U.S communication lines and boost the technical supremacy of America.
The nature of Cold War in the 1950s shifted gradually from military focus to a more ideological and cultural front. The Soviet Union was animated by an obsession with communism as they focused solely on imposing their absolute authority over other nations. Clashes between the two superpowers were inevitable, and the advent of nuclear weapons meant that everyone faced the ever-present possibility of annihilation. The vitality and integrity of the American system were in greater jeopardy than ever before and the U.S government had to come up with policies to mitigate the situation (Cardwell 31).
According to the NSC-68, the American régime had to pursue a program that was meant to contain the growth of the USSR vigorously. The report recommended that America had to embark on military development of nuclear ammunition and other conventional armed forces. The development that can be attributed to the NSC-68 included the development of the hydrogen bomb and more efficient use of covert forces to achieve U.S goals and those of its allies. The price of the operation of the NSC-68 was estimated at $50 billion, marking an upsurge of American expenditure on defense by $ 37 billion (Cardwell 34).
The Patriot Act
The Patriot Act was passed after the U.S September 11, 2001, attack and its objective was to ensure that it united and strengthened America by providing appropriate tools that were needed to intercept and obstruct terrorism. The Act was meant to improve the counterterrorism exertions by allowing detectives to use amenities available to them to scrutinize crimes. These resources included electronic surveillance, court orders to obtain business records in terrorism cases, information sharing among government agencies, and increased penalties for those who engage in terrorism (Ball 13). The government has been successful in averting another attack due to the authorities granted by the Patriotic Act that has enhanced America’s ability to avert, investigate, and act against terror attacks.
The U.S is facing threats from an enemy that uses every aspect of the Western society that range from liberties and freedoms guaranteed by the constitution to the proficient technological infrastructure to suit its twisted ideology that uploads mass murder of innocents. The U.S has to adjust its institutions to prevent the threat of mass casualties and do so while protecting the civil rights guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment (Ball 28). The goal is to increase security while guaranteeing freedoms and rights to the public and that is what the Patriot Act intends to achieve. In the fight against terrorism, it is imperative for the American public to realize that there need to be adjustments on law enforcement that do not significantly compromise on privacy and preserves the liberties that they treasure (Carafano 1).
Similarities and Differences between NSC-68 and the Patriot Act
The NSC-68 and the Patriot Act are similar in that they both are meant to provide security to the American populace against their enemies. Both documents provide a healthy mix of both offense and defense strategies, and they hold that there can be no gain if the country seems weak and vulnerable to the enemy. The two documents undertake to protect the civil liberties of Americans and preserve a vibrant civil society by protecting fundamental rights during a time of conflict. The two commit to winning the battle of ideology where Americans believe that their enemies will abandon their corrupt and vacuous ideology and accept the legitimate and credible alternative that they offer. Furthermore, both policies escalate spending on security with the former increasing expenditure on the armed forces and the latter increasing disbursements to law enforcement. The two documents differ regarding objectives where the NSC-68 focused more on the development of nuclear weapons while the Patriot Act focuses on empowering law enforcement agencies to detect and mitigate terrorism. The NSC-68 does not have an effect on the Fourth Amendment while the Patriot Act makes an exception to the Amendment by allowing for secret searches in matters concerning terrorism (Carafano 1). In addition, the NSC-68 was a policy against the expansion of a country while the Patriot Act discourages acts orchestrated by groups in different countries.
Works Cited
Ball, Howard. The USA Patriot Act of 2001: Balancing Civil Liberties and National Security : a Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2004. Print.
Carafano, James Jay. Securing the Home Front. Washington D.C: Heritage Foundation, 2007. Print.
Cardwell, Curt. NSC 68 and the Political Economy of the Early Cold War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Print.
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