The NSC is a cabinet body established in 1947 as the Cold War began to
discuss and coordinate policy as directed by the president... And, as it has evolved, its main task has become to make sure that
foreign relations do not get the president in trouble in Washington.
It
originally had no staff or policy role independent of the cabinet. Kennedy’s initial NSC staff numbered six men, some of whom, like McGeorge Bundy and Walt Rostow, achieved infamy as the authors of the Vietnam War. Twenty years later, when Ronald Reagan took office, the NSC staff had grown to around 50. By the time Barack Obama became president in 2009, it numbered about 370, plus another 230 or so people off the books and on temporary duty, for a total of around 600....
In many ways, the NSC staff has evolved to resemble the machinery in a
planetarium. It turns this way and that and, to those within its ambit,
the heavens appear to turn with it. But this is an apparatus that
projects illusions. Inside its event horizon, everything is comfortingly
predictable. Outside — who knows?— there may be a hurricane
brewing. This is a system that creates and implements foreign policies
suited to Washington narratives, but detached from external realities
often to the point of delusion, as illustrated by America’s
misadventures in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. And the system
never admits mistakes. To do so would be a political gaffe, even if it
might be a learning experience.
Read the entire article here at War on the Rocks: The End of the American Empire by Chas W. Freeman Jr.
Of the Department of Defense to fight Ebola
Not one soldier, sailor or airman swore to protect and defend the people of Liberia from all viruses foreign or domestic.
Barack Obama on Tuesday called West Africa's deadly Ebola outbreak a
looming threat to global security and announced a major expansion of the
U.S. role in trying to halt its spread, including deployment of 3,000
troops to the region. ~Yahoo
To date we have spent more than $100 million to address this challenge, USAID also has announced plans to make available up to $75
million in additional funding. DoD also has requested to reprogram $500 million in Fiscal Year 2014
Overseas Contingency Operations funds for humanitarian assistance. White House
National Security vs Global Security
It is the duty and responsibility of the President to ensure US national security, not to guarantee the world global security.
According to a senior military official,
Dempsey said at a recent meeting: “The Department of Defense’s number
one priority is combating Ebola.” ~ W.J
Really? In that case General Dempsey ought to be court-martialed and the President impeached for this extra-constitutional abuse of power and dereliction of duty. If one American soldier dies of ebola his blood is on the President's hands.
Ebola is Serious Business
Don't get me wrong, something needs to be done, but it is not for the Department of Defense or for the American soldier to be ordered to do so. One would have to seriously question the legality of that order within the context of the Constitution of the United States. Frankly, it's not even the responsibility of the US Public Health Service:
The mission of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is to
protect, promote, and advance the health and safety of our Nation. ~ USPHS
And before you start lecturing me on the epidemiological hazards to national security know that a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I was a medical technologist. I'm not saying we ought to do nothing, I am saying the President has no more authority to order US troops into the midst of a peacetime viral outbreak in a foreign country than he has to order the staff of Massachusetts General there.
You can't argue the President is concerned about national security when anyone with ebola can simply waltz across our southern border. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
Thoughts?
