Governing Security: The Hidden Origins Of American Security Agencies

Description

Governing Security investigates the surprising history of two major federal agencies that touch the lives of Americans every day: the Roosevelt-era Federal Security Agency––which eventually became today's Department of Health and Human Services––and the more recently created Department of Homeland Security. By describing the legal, political, and institutional history of both organizations, Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar offers a compelling account of crucial developments affecting the basic architecture of our nation. He shows how Americans end up choosing security goals not through an elaborate technical process, but in lively and overlapping settings involving conflict over statutory programs, agency autonomy, presidential power, and priorities for domestic and international risk regulation. Ultimately, as Cuéllar shows, ongoing fights about the scope of national security reshape the very structure of government and the intricate process through which statutes and regulations are implemented, particularly during––or in anticipation of––a national crisis. Cover Half title Title Copyright Table of Contents List of Tables and Figures Preface and Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations and Acronyms 1 | The Twin Problems of Governing Security 2 | Rethinking Law, Security, and Organizational Structure 3 | Arming Democracy: Designing Federal Security 4 | Just How Secure Are You at This Moment? Growing and Elevating Federal Security 5 | Democracies Need Not Always Be Weak: More Control, and More to Control 6 | Crosscurrents or Greater Velocity: Shifting Functions, Justifications, and Capacity 7 | Maybe It’s Time to Think Big: Creating DHS and Defining Homeland Security 8 | The Political Logic and Early Legacy of DHS 9 | No Matter What Fate May Have in Store: Security and the Nation-State in a World of Economic Risk 10 | An Organizational Gloss on Separation of Powers Conclusion | One Supreme Objective for the Future Notes Bibliography Index