ABSTRACT
Americans look to their government to ensure their physical security, to prevent foreign powers and overseas chaos from disrupting their prosperity, and to recognize and encourage their various expressions of individual liberty. National security encompasses these three core aims – and from time to time, some others as well. Defense policy issues account for many of the policy issues most prominently discussed among Americans. The question about the division between the public and the private asks which responsibilities are “inherently governmental,” closely linked to the reasons that political theorists use to explain why governments exist. Although policy debates on the public–private axis generally trace their roots to the goal of preserving accountability in government, advocates often frame the markets versus planning question by emphasizing another goal: efficiency. Presidential power has increased, because mobilization has become nearly continuous, and threatened attacks, for example with nuclear weapons, can materialize instantaneously.
