ABSTRACT
National security became intimately entwined in the hyper-partisan domestic political debate over deficit reduction during the summer of 2011. Questions about national security policy were part of the overall political dialogue before that date, mainly centering on issues such as the wisdom, desirability, and timing of American withdrawal from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and indirectly about whether the United States should have undertaken either). To a smaller extent, it was also over matters connected to defense budgeting, such as the desirability of additional large expenditures for new, expensive weapons systems like the F-22 and F-35 fighter airplane programs. Such disagreements were moderated by the continuing general consensus in support of national security that developed during the Cold War and that had been accentuated by the national reaction to the terrorist attacks of 2001.
