We Have Met the Enemy--and He Is Us

Abstract

What does the Constitution say about the meaning of common defense? Not much. It tells us who is responsible for providing it: That Congress shall provide the funds, the rules, and the regulations for military forces. That the President shall command those forces. That the Federal Government is obliged to protect the states against invasion. And it goes on to limit the possession or use of military forces by the individual States and to define treason. But more than that can't be found. If they didn't write it down, what did the authors of the Constitution mean when they said provide for the common defense ? Certainly the threats which they faced were evident enough: The motivation for the document they were framing came largely from those threats: Invasion, of course, from without. But also from within--rebellion or insurrection--something they had already experienced in local uprisings and whose shadow urged them toward a union. Theses. (JES)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1987
Accession Number
ADA216844

Entities

People

  • Carl H. Builder

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Arms Control
  • Congress
  • Earth-To-Space Weapons
  • Governments
  • Human Behavior
  • Insurgency
  • Law
  • Military Operations
  • National Governments
  • New England
  • New York
  • Nuclear Explosions
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Psychology
  • Strategic Defense Initiative
  • United States
  • Weapons

Readers

  • Educational Psychology
  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • Strategic Security Studies