National Security and Double Government Paperback - 2016

Oxford University Press Inc. New.. New New York: Oxford University Press Inc, 2017 New/New Why has US security policy scarcely changed from the Bush to the Obama administration? National Security and Double Government offers a disquieting answer Michael J Glennon challenges the myth that US security policy is still forged by America's visible, "Madisonian institutions"--the President, Congress, and the courts Their roles, he argues, have become largely illusory Presidential control is now nominal, congressional oversight is dysfunctional, and judicial review is negligible This book details the dramatic shift in power that has occurred from the Madisonian institutions to a concealed "Trumanite network"--the several hundred managers of the military, intelligence, diplomatic, and law enforcement agencies who are responsible for protecting the nation and who have come to operate largely immune from constitutional and electoral restraints Reform efforts face daunting obstacles Remedies within this new system of "double government" require the hollowed-out Madisonian institutions to exercise the very power that they lack Meanwhile, reform initiatives from without confront the same pervasive political ignorance within the polity that has given rise to this duality This book sounds a powerful warning about the need to resolve this dilemma--and the mortal threat posed to accountability, democracy, and personal freedom if double government persists