1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910461937503321

Autore

Cuéllar Mariano-Florentino

Titolo

Governing security [[electronic resource] ] : the hidden origins of American security agencies / / Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Stanford, Calif., : Stanford Law Books, 2013

ISBN

0-8047-8434-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (337 p.)

Disciplina

355.033073

355/.033073

Soggetti

National security - United States

Internal security - United States

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Table of Contents -- List of Tables and Figures -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- List of Abbreviations and Acronyms -- Chapter 1. The Twin Problems of Governing Security -- Chapter 2. Rethinking Law, Security, and Organizational Structure -- Chapter 3. Arming Democracy -- Chapter 4. Just How Secure Are You at This Moment? -- Chapter 5. Democracies Need Not Always Be Weak -- Chapter 6. Crosscurrents or Greater Velocity -- Chapter 7. Maybe It’s Time to Think Big -- Chapter 8. The Political Logic and Early Legacy of DHS -- Chapter 9. No Matter What Fate May Have in Store -- Chapter 10. An Organizational Gloss on Separation of Powers -- Conclusion. One Supreme Objective for the Future -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Statutes and regulations are frequently designed to affect the public in specific ways. But exactly how these laws ultimately impact the public often depends on how politicians go about securing control of the complex public agencies that implement policies, and how these organizations in turn are used to define the often-contested concept of "national security." Governing Security explores this dynamic by investigating 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.