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Appraising America's security in a post 9/11 era

interference could also include an assortment of shenanigans by internal forces that might ultimately lead to severe changes in our "internal life."

While Administrator for the US Agency for International Development, J. Brian Atwood, another fellow who should know something about national security, wrote in "Towards a New Definition of National Security: The New Strategic Threats," [Current History, Vol. 62, no. 5; December 15, 1995]: "CONSIDER FOR A MOMENT: WHEN THE UNITED STATES FOUGHT COMMUNISM IN KOREA AND VIETNAM, WHEN WE CREATED NATO AS A BULWARK IN EUROPE AND CHECKED SOVIET ADVENTURISM IN AFRICA AND ASIA, WHAT, PRECISELY, DID WE FEAR? THE ANSWER IS NOT REALLY SIMPLE, BUT IT WAS AND IS PERSUASIVE: WE FEARED THE LOSS OF OUR FREEDOM. WE FEARED THE LOSS OF OUR MARKETS AND THE LOSS OF INFLUENCE. WE FEARED THE POSSIBILITY THAT EVEN IF UNCONQUERED, AMERICA MIGHT BE SURROUNDED BY HOSTILE FORCES. AND WE FEARED A MORAL DEFEAT, THE DEFEAT OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT, THE DEFEAT OF OUR SPECIAL VALUE SYSTEM." Freedom? Loss of our markets? Loss of influence? Being surrounded by hostile forces? A moral defeat: the defeat of the human spirit and our special value system? With this short list, Mr. Atwood expanded the definition considerably, but he wasn't done.

"SO NOW, WITH COMMUNISM DEAD, AND GORBACHEV GIVING LECTURES, LET'S ASK A FEW QUESTIONS: IF NATIONS FALL TO HOMEGROWN WARLORDS, IS THAT ANY LESS A SETBACK FOR INTERNATIONAL STABILITY? IF OUR MARKETS VANISH FROM CIVIL WAR INSTEAD OF COLLECTIVIZATION, DOES THAT LIMIT OUR ECONOMIC POTENTIAL ANY MORE? IF ETHNIC CLEANSING TAKES THE PLACE OF THE GULAG, ARE THE STANDARDS OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS ANY LESS VIOLATED? IF TRIBAL MACHETES TAKE A MILLION LIVES IN RWANDA, IS THAT LESS A DEFEAT FOR THE HUMAN SPIRIT THAN THE MILLION DEATHS FROM ARTILLERY AND STARVATION ON THE FRONT LINES OF THE COLD WAR IN AFGHANISTAN?

COMMUNISTS WERE UNACCOUNTABLE; THAT WAS WHY CHERNOBYL HAPPENED. BUT IS THE POLLUTION FROM ONE EXPLODING REACTOR ANY MORE DANGEROUS THAN THE ACCUMULATED EFFLUENTS FROM BURNING RAINFORESTS AND TEEMING URBAN CENTERS IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD? COMMUNIST HORDES? WHAT ABOUT HORDES OF REFUGEES? COMMUNIST SUBVERSION? WHAT ABOUT THE SUBVERSION CAUSED BY DRUG CARTELS AND INTERNATIONAL MAFIAS THAT PUSH ASIDE WEAK AND FAILING GOVERNMENTS?

THE FOREIGN POLICY COMMUNITY RECOGNIZES THAT OUR NATIONAL SECURITY CAN BE THREATENED, EVEN IN THE ABSENCE OF MISSILES AND BOMBERS. BUT WE HESITATE IN REDEFINING NATIONAL SECURITY OUT OF FEAR THAT WE WILL


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