ABSTRACT
The process by which American interests in the Gulf emerged and then quickened has already been discussed, as has the transfer of responsibility for the security of the Gulf from Britain to the US in 1971. Thus it can be seen that the United States' assumption of primary responsibility (at least as self-perceived) for this task has been evidenced for little more than a single decade. The official commitment to defend the Gulf physically if necessary, however, emerged only at the beginning of the 1980s, as did the creation of viable machinery to handle this task. 1
