|
|
National
security policy: Every
administration comes to power believing that it is in control of American
national security policy. It will redefine our national interests, lay
out an multi-year strategy for protecting those interests, and pursue its
domestic and international agenda.
That illusion usually lasts a month or
two. Then reality hits. This course examines the
realities confronting American national security policymakers and the many
factors that influence the direction of American national security policy
over time. The course has four broad goals:
 |
to demonstrate that definitions of
national security and vital interests are
subjective and fluid and that they are largely functions of
uncontrollable domestic and international
politics, rather than responses to
"objective threats"; |
|
to demonstrate that policy
decisions involve complex tradeoffs among political, social,
economic, military, legal, and moral goals and values; |
|
to explore how the
many organizations, institutions, and individuals
that participate in American national security policymaking affect
policy formulation, implementation, and outcomes; and |
|
to better
understand the historical context,
evolution, and linkages of national security problems and solutions
. |
The course is organized along an
historical time line. Beginning with the final days of World War II we follow American national
security policy from the first stirrings of confrontation with the Soviet
Union and China, into two hot wars in Asia that cost over 100,000 American
lives and spawned social upheavals, through a close encounter with nuclear
war, stumbling into the era of arms control, the
subsequent collapse of the communism, and ending with the frightening
specter of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of undeterable enemies. Selective case studies, memoirs, and original
documents act as windows into each period. What were US national security
decision makers thinking? What were they worried about? How did they see
their options?
Organization:
The course is organized into two weekly lectures
and one-hour weekly recitation sections. Students are required to attend both the weekly lecture and a
weekly recitation. Failure to attend class without a valid pre-approved
explanation will result in a failing
grade for the class.
The lectures will delve into the
primary topic for the week but they will not regurgitate the reading
assignment. Lectures will cover theoretical and analytical issues as well
as the substantive questions at hand with the expectation that all
students have completed the reading for that week. The lectures will
emphasize the historical flow of events and alternative ways of
interpreting events and decisions.
The recitation sections will explore
lecture topics in greater detail and provide the opportunity for broad
discussion among the students. Some recitation sessions will focus more
explicitly on topics implied, but not directly covered, in the lectures.
In particular, the recitation sessions will use current items in the press
as a take-off point for class discussion. (One of the requirements for
this course is reading of the daily press.) Student discussion should
occupy the bulk of the recitation period.
Readings:
The course text, which can be purchased
at the MIT COOP is:
| John Lewis Gaddis (1982) Strategies of Containment,
(Oxford University Press). |
All other required course readings
can be found in the:
Students are also required to
read the daily press. Newspapers (and their online versions) that are
acceptable include: The Boston Globe, The
New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal.
Each week’s reading assignments
should be completed prior to lecture class for that week.
Requirements & Grading
Criteria for HASS CI Subjects:
Communication intensive subjects in the humanities, arts, and social
sciences should require at least 20 pages of writing divided among 3-5
assignments. Of these 3-5 assignments, at least one should be revised and
resubmitted. HASS CI subjects should further offer students substantial
opportunity for oral expression, through presentations, student-led
discussion, or class participation. In order to guarantee sufficient
attention to student writing and substantial opportunity for oral
expression, the maximum number of students per section in a HASS CI
subject is 18, except in the case of a subject taught without sections
(where the faculty member in charge is the only instructor). In that case,
enrollments can rise to 25, if a writing fellow is attached to the
subject.
Grades will be determined by student
performance on all of the following:
Class
participation: Students are required to attend class. Missing more
that two classes without prior permission will result in automatic failure of the course
regardless of other grades. Quizzes may be given at the discretion
of the instructors.
Both lecture and recitation section will
involved extensive student oral participation, commenting, questioning,
and probing arguments and ideas. Students will be required to
prepare several oral presentations in recitation. |
25% |
| Four
essays: Paper topics will be assigned. Specific due dates for the
papers are noted in the syllabus and late papers will be reduced 1/2 grade per day
The first essay will be 1000
words and will involve a rewriting exercise. The grade for this paper
will be based on the rewrite draft.
The second, third, and fourth
essays will be 1900 words each.
All papers will be printed in
12pt font, double spaced with one inch margins.
|
48% |
| Three hour Final
examination [finals week] |
27% |
Both lecture and recitation section will
involved extensive student oral participation, commenting, questioning,
and probing arguments and ideas.
To summarize, students are required to:
1. attend weekly lectures and a
weekly recitation section;
2. complete weekly required reading
assignments prior to class;
3. read a major newspaper daily (the
Boston Globe, New York Times, or Wall Street Journal
are acceptable);
WARNING: Students who miss
either lectures or recitations without prior approval or an
accepted medical excuse will be "asked" to drop the class or receive a failing grade. There will be no exceptions.
|
LECTURE SCHEDULE
| September
3: |
Introduction
to Course
|
| September
8:
|
Concepts of National
Security Policy
We
begin with a basic description of the problems, issues, and policy
decisions that confront national security planners. What is national
security? What is, or is not, America's vital interests? Who or what
threatens those interests? How does military power fit into national
security planning?
Required Reading:
( pages)
|
Bernard Brodie (1972) "Vital
Interests," in Frank Trager and Philip Kronenberg (1973) National
Security and American Society, (Lawrence, KS: University Press of
Kansas), pp. 63-68. |
|
Ernest May (1992) "National
Security in American History," in Graham Allison and Gregory F.
Treverton, Rethinking America's National Security, (New York,
NY: W.W. Norton & Company), pp. 94-114. |
|
David Shribman (2001) "For
Rumsfled a world of Hard Decisions Awaits, Boston Globe, June
2001, p. A3. |
|
National Security Strategy of the
United States --2002 |
Recommended Reading
|
| September
10:
|
Analyzing National
Security Policy We compare
and contrast several different ways -- models -- of analyzing national security policy making.
We begin with "rational actor" model where
well-defined vital interests, threats, and geo-political realities
are alleged to determine our national security needs. Forces, alliances, weaponry,
etc. are then deduced from those needs. Then we consider several
other
models that enrich this basic view; bureaucratic, organizational, group
psychology models.
Required Reading:
|
Graham
T. Allison, "Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile
Crisis," American Political Science Review, September
1969, pp. 689-718. |
|
Iriving
Janis
(1997) "The
Groupthink Syndrome," from Hays, Vallance,
& Van Tassel, American Defense Policy, pp. 262-276. |
|
Karen Alter (2002) "Is GroupThink
Driving Us to War?" Boston Globe, September 16, 2002, A16. |
Recommended Reading:
|
Morton Halperin (1974) "Organizational Interests," in
Bureaucratic Politics and Foreign Policy, (Washington D.C.:
Brookings Institution), pp. 26-62. |
|
Robert Jervis, (1968) "Hypotheses on Misperception," World
Politics, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 454-479. |
|
Michael Mastanduno (1997) "Preserving the Unipolar Moment: Realist
Theories and U.S. Grand Strategy after the Cold War," International Security
21.4 (Spring): 49-88. |
| Ole
Holsti (1997) "Crisis, Stress, and Decision Making," in
Hays, Vallance,
& Van Tassel, American Defense Policy, pp. 248-257. |
|
| |
The Institutional Context of National
Security Policy |
|
September 15
|
The President & Congress in National
Security Policymaking How do the President and Congress
influence national security policy?
Required Reading:
|
George
W. Bush, State of the Union Address 2003. |
|
George
W. Bush, National Security Presidential Directive-1 and Homeland
Security Presidential Directive-1 |
|
Congress and National
Security Policy (compendium of news articles) |
|
The War
Powers Resolution 1973. |
|
Congressional Joint
Resolution on Use of Force Against Iraq |
Recommended Reading:
|
Amos Jordan, William J.
Taylor, and Michael Mazarr (1999) "Presidential Leadership and the
Executive Branch in National Security," in American National
Security, (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press)., pp.
93-122. |
|
Amos Jordan, William J.
Taylor, and Michael Mazarr (1999) "The Impact of Congress on National
Security," in American National Security, (Baltimore, MD: Johns
Hopkins University Press)., pp. 123-142 |
|
Richard
Neustadt (1997) "The President's Power to Pursuade,"
in Hays, Vallance, & Van Tassel, American Defense Policy,
pp. 73-80. |
|
James
Lindsay (1997) "Congress & Defense Policy," in Hays,
Vallance, & Van Tassel, American Defense Policy, pp. 81-92. |
|
Linda
Jamison (1997) "Executive-Legislative Relations After the Cold
War," in Hays, Vallance, & Van Tassel, American Defense
Policy, pp. 93-100. |
|
John
Tower, Brent Scowcroft, & Edmund Muskie (1997) "Organizing
for National Security," in Hays, Vallance, & Van Tassel, American
Defense Policy, pp. 185-188. |
|
I.M.
Destler (1985) "National Security Advice to U.S. Presidents: Some
Lessons from 30 Years," in Daniel Kaufman, Jeffrey McKitrick, and
Thomas Leney, U.S. National Security. (Lexington, MA: Lexington
Books), pp. 177-199. |
|
| September
17:
|
The National Security Bureaucracy
Where do the armed services fit
into the policy making picture? What about the CIA, the State
Department, and other federal agencies? How and why institutions matter in
national security policy.
Required Reading:
|
Amos Jordan, William J.
Taylor, and Michael Mazarr (1999) "The National Security
Decisionmaking Process," in American National Security,
4th ed.
(Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press)., pp. 217-234.
|
|
Carl
Builder (1997) "Service Identities & Behavior," in Hays,
Vallance, & Van Tassel, American Defense Policy, pp.
108-121. |
|
Robert
Schlesinger (2003) "Rumsfeld, Army leaders in discord," Boston Globe,
September 1 |
Recommended Reading:
|
Commission
on the Roles and Capabilities of the U.S. Intelligence Community
(1997) "Preparing for the 21st Century," in Hays,
Vallance, & Van Tassel, American Defense Policy, pp.
143-150. |
|
| September
22:
|
Student Holiday -- No Class |
|
September 24: |
1st Draft of Paper 1 Due
Write a 1000 word op-ed essay for the Boston Globe. The topic is
"Protecting the National Interest Today" |
| September
24:
|
Interest Groups, the Media, and the
Public in National Security Policy
Here we look at public opinion, the
media, and interest groups such as the defense industries.
Required Reading:
|
Gordon
Adams (1997) "The Business of Defense" in Hays,
Vallance, & Van Tassel, American Defense Policy, pp.
151-159 |
|
Richard
Halloran (1987) "Soldiers and Scribblers: A Common Mission,
Parameters, Vol 17 (Spring),
pp. 10-28 |
|
PIPA
Public Opinion Survey, September 9, 2003. |
Recommended Reading:
|
John
Mueller (2002) "American Foreign Policy and Public Opinion in a New
Era," in Barabar Norrander and Clyde Wilcox, ed. Understanding
Public Opinion (Washington D.C.: CQ Press), pp. 149-172. |
|
Catherine
Kelleher (1997) "Presidents, Polls, and the Use of Force," in
Hays, Vallance, & Van Tassel, American Defense Policy, pp.
170-180. |
|
Morton Halperin (1974) "Uses of
the Press", in Bureaucratic Politics and Foreign Policy
(Washington D.C.: Brookings), pp. 173- |
|
| |
II
National Security Policy as History
|
| September
29: |
Aftermath of World War
II: 1945-1949 Germany
and Japan stand defeated and occupied. Europe is in ruins. America
demilitarizes as the ideological clash between communism and western free
market democracy transforms the new peace into a cold war.
What factors drove US national security
thinking at the end of World War
II, and what policies were considered? Was the Cold War avoidable?
Required Reading:
| Gaddis,
Strategies of Containment, chapters 1-3. |
| Winston
Churchill "Iron Curtain Speech," The Times of London, (March
6, 1946), . 4. |
|
The Truman Doctrine |
Recommended Reading:
|
X,
"Sources of Soviet Conduct" Foreign Affairs, (July
1947), pp. 566-582. |
|
Thomas
J. Christensen, "Moderate Strategies and Crusading Rhetoric:
Truman Mobilizes for a Bipolar World," Useful Adversaries: Grand
Strategy, Domestic Mobilization, and Sino-American Conflict, 1947-1958,
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), pp. 32-76. |
|
| October
1: |
The Beginning of the
Cold War: 1949-1952 America plans for its defense. NSC-68
is the blueprint. How did the Soviet Union, a US ally in the half-decade war against the
Nazis, end up as the fundamental "Threat to US national
Security" a few short years after the end of the war?
Required Reading:
|
Gaddis,
Strategies of Containment, chapter 4. |
|
NSC-68. |
Recommended Reading:
|
Allen S. Whiting (1991) "The
U.S.-China War in Korea," in Alexander George, ed. Avoiding War. (Boulder,
CO: Westview Press) pp. 103-125. |
|
| October
6: |
American Remilitarizes 1952-1956
As
America’s allies, Britain and France, disengage from their global
deployments the U.S. takes on new geopolitical commitments and forges
alliances to contain communism. In doing so it gets into a hot war in
Korea, tangles with China, and turns to "the bomb" to buy
security.
What determines where, when, and how the
U.S. sees its vital interests threatened? How and why did alliance-building become such a basic policy of US
national security policy?
"The Arms Race" begins in earnest
and we look at how it is fueled, in part, by forces beyond the U.S.-Soviet
rivalry.
Required Reading:
|
Gaddis,
Strategies of Containment, chapters 5.
|
|
John
Foster Dulles, "Massive Retaliation" |
|
NIE 11-4-54 |
Recommended Reading
|
Morton
Halperin (1974) "Organizational Interests," in Bureaucratic
Politics & Foreign Policy (Brookings Institution), chapter 3.
|
|
[something
on economic imperialism]
|
|
|
October 8: |
Revised
Paper #1 due Revise your paper
as per the comments and suggestions provided by your instuctor. |
| October
8: |
American
Remilitarizes 1956-1959
America confronts the Soviet Union and China but her
confidence is shaken when a Soviet satellite becomes the first man-made
object to orbit the earth. The Bomber Gap and the Missile Gap become
models of American national security mythology, a mythology haunted by the
specter of Pearl Harbor.
Required Reading:
|
Gaddis,
Strategies of Containment, chapters 6. |
|
NSC Sputnik Documents 1957 |
|
Explorer Work Statement 1958 |
Recommended Reading
|
Morton H. Halperin (1961) "The Gaither Committee and the
Policy Process"
World
Politics, Vol. 13, No. 3. (Apr., 1961), pp. 360-384. [Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-8871%28196104%2913%3A3%3C360%3ATGCATP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-U] |
|
|
October 13 |
Columbus Day No Class |
|
October 15 |
America Remilitarizes
Again! 1960 – 1964 Many fascinating developments in US
national security occur during this period. We focus on the
development of theories of deterrence and defense and approaches for
military force devlopment.
Required Reading:
|
Gaddis,
Strategies of Containment, chapter 7.
|
|
Bay of Pigs
Documents (2 parts) |
|
Kennedy Speech on Cuba (audio &
text) |
Recommended Reading
|
Robert Kennedy, Thirteen
Days,
|
|
Graham
T. Allison, "Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile
Crisis," American Political Science Review, September
1969, pp. 689-718. |
|
Morton
Halperin "The Decision to Deploy the ABM: Bureaucratic and
Domestic Politics in the Johnson Administration," in Richard Head
and Ervin Rokke American Defense Policy (Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1973), pp. 466-486.
|
|
|
October 20:
|
America Remilitarizes
Again! 1960 – 1964 |
|
October 22:
|
America Remilitarizes Again! 1960 – 1964
Required Reading:
| David
Burbach, (1998) Nuclear
Weapons Primer |
|
Robert McNamara (1962)
No Cities Doctrine |
|
Robert McNamara (1967)
MAD |
|
E.S. Quade (1973) "Principles and
Procedures of Systems Analysis," in Frank N. Trager, ed. National
Security and American Society (Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas
Press), pp. 206-223. |
Recommended Reading
|
*Alain
Enthoven and Wayne Smith "New Concepts and New Tools to Shape the
Defense Program" in Richard Head and Ervin Rokke American
Defense Policy (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973),
pp. 349-358. |
|
|
October 27 |
Paper 2 Due in Class. |
|
October 27: |
Vietnam
& Domestic Turmoil: 1965 – 1968
National security problems multiply as domestic violence takes on the
cloak of insurrection. The War in Vietnam escalates and the civil rights
and anti-war movements come to be seen as threats of subversion.
Required Reading:
|
Gaddis, Strategies of Containment, chapter 8.
|
|
Gulf of Tonkin Documents |
|
Lyndon Johnson (1968) "Peace
without Conquest Speech" |
|
Lyndon Johnson (1968) "Refusal to
Seek Reelection Speech" |
| FBI
(1967) Racial Violence Potential in the US This Summer
[classified memo] |
Recommended Reading:
|
Lyndon Johnson, "Vietnam", The
Vantage Point, (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston), chapters 6. |
|
James
C. Thompson, Jr., (1968) "How Could Vietnam Happen? An
Autopsy," The Atlantic Monthly, (April), Vol. 221, No. 4. ,pp.
41-53 |
|
Leslie
Gelb and Richard Betts, The Irony of Vietnam: The System Worked
(Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1979).
|
|
John Garofano (2002) "Tragedy or
Choice in Vietnam?" International Security, Vol. 26, No. 4
(Spring), pp. 143-168. |
|
Morton
Halperin "The Decision to Deploy the ABM: Bureaucratic and
Domestic Politics in the Johnson Administration," in Richard Head
and Ervin Rokke American Defense Policy (Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1973), pp. 466-486.
|
|
| October
29: |
The
Nixon Years: 1969-1974
Nixon opens the door to China establishing a strategic triangle between
the U.S., China, and the Soviet Union. Strategic arms control between the
U.S. and the U.S.S.R. holds out the hope of containing the arms race. Vietnam
disengagement begins.
In the latter half of the 1970 the scaling back American war-fighting
forces greatly limits our "options" for coping with perceived
threats to our vital interests. Domestic political
challenges in U.S. national security rear their heads: The War Powers Act challenges
presidential authority and raises constitutional questions. The Watergate
scandal and poses fundamental questions about command and control of the
armed forces in civil political crises
Required Reading
Recommended Reading:
|
*Sol Sanders and William Henderson,
"The Consequences of ‘Vietnam’," Orbis 21.1
(Spring 1977): 61-76.
|
|
Raymond Garthoff, "Opening an Era of Negotiation: SALT I, 1969-72," Détente
and Confrontation, (Washington DC: Brookings), chapter 5.
|
|
Al Haig (1984) Caveat, (Macmillan Publishing Co) |
|
Arthur A. Cohen (1991) "The
Sino-Soviet Border Crisis," in Alexander George, ed. Avoiding War
(Boulder, CO: Westview Press), pp.269-298. |
|
| November
3 & 5: |
The Ford, and Carter Years: 1975 – 1979
Required Reading
Recommended Reading:
|
Z. Brzezinski, Power and Principle. |
|
|
November 10 |
Veterans Day Holiday |
| November
12, |
America Remilitarizes Yet
Again!
(deja vu): 1980 – 1988(1)
Ronald Reagan enters is elected president with a perceived mandate to rebuild
American international standing and military power and to stand up to the
communist threat. We focus on the Reagan military buildup in
weaponry. In particular we look at the reemergence of strategic
defense -- in the form of SDI -- as a major theme in American national
security policy.
Required Reading
Recommended Reading
|
*Strobe
Talbott "SDI During the Reagan Years, " Joseph S. Nye, Jr.
and James Shear, On the Defensive? The Future of SDI,
(University Press of America, 1988), chapter 2. |
|
Lieut.,
USN Res. David R. Hall, "The Constitution and Presidential War
Making against Libya," Naval War College Review, vol. XLII, no. 3,
Summer 1989, pp. 30-45. [course notes]
|
|
Lars-Erik
Nelson (2001) "Fantasia," The New York Review of Books.
(May 11). |
|
| November
17: |
Paper 3 Due in Class.
|
| November
17:
|
America Remilitarizes Yet
Again!
(deja vu): 1980 – 1988(1)
Required Reading
|
John
Tower, Brent Scowcroft, & Edmund Muskie (1997) "The
Iran-Contra Affair," in Hays, Vallance, & Van Tassel, American
Defense Policy, pp. 189-203. |
|
| |
Basking in the
Post-Cold War Sunshine 1992-2000 |
| November
19:
|
Managing the End of
the Soviet Union -- The Bush (I) Administration: 1989-1992
We look at the first large American military campaign since the
Vietnam War : the Persian Gulf War and the uncertainties of watching the
world's "other" super-power disintegrate.
Required Reading:
|
National Security Strategy of
the United States (1990) |
| Nick
Kotz, (1997) "Wild Blue Yonder," in Hays, Vallance, & Van Tassel, American
Defense Policy, pp. 213-226. |
|
Janice Stein (1992) "Deterrence & Compellence in the Gulf
War," International Security, Vol. 17 (Fall), pp.
147-179. |
|
Lawrence
Freedman and Efraim Karsh, (1991) "How Kuwait was Won: Strategy in the
Gulf War," International Security, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Fall), pp. 5-41.
|
Recommended Reading
|
Jon Western (2002) "Sources of
Humanitarian Intervention," International Security, Vol. 26, No.
4 (Spring), pp. 112-142. [U.S. intervention in Somalia] |
|
|
November 24
|
The Clinton Administration
1993-2000
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and
demise of communist regimes in Eastern Europe the big question for
American national security planners becomes: What do we worry about now?
Required Reading:
White House (1999) National Security Strategy for a New Century.
Recommended Reading:
|
Barry Posen and Andrew L. Ross, "Competing Visions for U.S. Grand
Strategy," International Security, Vol. 21 (Winter 1996/97),
pp. 5-53.
|
|
Eugene
Gholz, Daryl Press and Harvey Sapolsky, (1997) "Come Home,
America: The Strategy of Restraint in the Face of Temptation,"
International Security, vol. 21, no.4 (Spring): pp. 5-48.
|
|
Joseph
S. Nye, Jr., (1995) "The Case for Deep Engagement," Foreign
Affairs 74.4 (Jul/Aug): pp. 90-102.
|
|
|
November 26 |
TBD |
|
Thanksgiving
Break |
| December
1 |
2001-? The Bush (II)
Administration
Terrorism, Rogue States &
Technological
Weapons of Mass Destruction
Required Reading:
Recommended Reading
|
National
Commission on Terrorism (2000) Countering the Changing Threat.
|
| U.S.
State Department (2002)
Patterns of Global
Terrorism 2001 |
| Steven Simon & Daniel
Benjamin (2000) "America & the New Terrorism," Survival,
Vol. 42, No.1 (Spring), pp. 59-75. |
|
|
December 8 |
What Next? |
|
17.471 American National Security Policy
