New Threat to National Security: Environmental Deterioration
Abstract
Since the mid 1960's, "national security" has been conceptualized in almost strictly military terms, rooted in the assumption that the principal threat to security comes from the military actions of other nations. Such was not always the case. While U.S. government efforts to define a national security strategy, such as NSC-68, in the years immediately following World War II had a strong military component, there was also a focus on economic, resource, political and psychological questions. Paradoxically, during the 1960's, as the memories of World War II faded, government efforts to define national security strategy came to be dominated by the Department of Defense, and focused exclusively on military concerns. Consideration of military threats, particularly from the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries, has become so dominant that new threats to U.S. security, such as economic and environmental threats which military forces cannot address and may in fact exacerbate, tend to be ignored. A profoundly important reality of our age is interdependence. Economically this interdependence is illustrated by the effect of the industrialized nations' trade and debt policies on the lives of billions of people in the developing world; by interlinked financial markets; by the effect of agricultural policies of one nation on people far distant. Similarly, scientific research shows with increasing clarity the interrelationships governing our planet's ecology. Unprecedented increases in both population and economic activity have caused severe pollution and pressure on natural resources. The world's population, which has doubled since World War II, will reach 6 billion by the year 2000. The gross world product has increased fourfold since 1950. The world is following a course which erodes many of our most basic resources. In some cases, such as land and water, we are living off the principal and have been for some time.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 10, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA437350
Entities
People
- Sue H. Patterson
Organizations
- National War College