Presidential prerogatives on national security after September 11, 2001

President & National Security

Introduction and Historical Precedent

The notion of national security, as we know it changed on September 11, 2001. For the first time in the history of the United States (at least the contiguous states) a concerted, planned and multi-pronged attack was carried out on the United States. Other than Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, no other attack had taken place on U.S. soil. The United States was involved in many international conflicts, but they were carried out on European soil or the Pacific (World Wars I and II), or, exclusively in Asia (Korean and Vietnam Wars) or the first Gulf War. This essay is about how the presidential prerogative on National Security has changed with improvements in technology. In large part, these prerogatives have been governed by that fateful day in late summer of 2001. Terrorist activities such as bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia where servicemen were housed, or the earlier explosion in the Twin Towers 1993 -- orchestrated by Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (the blind sheikh), that killed a few, or the explosion near the naval destroyer U.S.S. Cole orchestrated by Yemeni terrorists, or the explosions out side the American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were definite attacks on the United States interests, but they did not occur on U.S. soil

Terrorism -- the New Concern for National Security

The slamming of two fully loaded passenger jet airplanes into the Twin Towers in New York City, one into the Pentagon and one which was headed for one of the Federal office buildings, perhaps even the U.S. Capitol Building, was brought down by the pluck and daring shown by the courageous passengers of Flight 93. This has changed the security philosophy for the last few years, and the repercussions will impact U.S. security policy for decades from now. But these events also exposed several problems with U.S. national security.

Evolution of National Security

The U.S. National Security Agency has evolved over time and the different wars. One of the big changes occurred during the late sixties till the end of the eighties with the fear of Cold War. Advances in technology were associated with a huge proliferation of nuclear weapons. The notion of Mutually Assured Destruction was not far from the minds of people. NATO was organized to combat this, as was the Soviet Bloc countries. Each of these countries had nuclear-tipped missiles with coordinates for the other country. The Strategic Defense Initiative (more popularly known as Star Wars) was proposed by President Ronald Reagan. It was the creation of technology so advanced that it would be able to intercept incoming Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. Though this move was soundly criticized, it has come to fruition now -- and was recently demonstrated. In fact, it was used in Gulf War I.

The "football" or the container that contains the nuclear codes, for launching of nuclear weapons, is always in the possession of an officer from the navy, when he accompanies the president. Thought congressional approval is required for the launching of war, it is the President's prerogative to make the final decision to launch nuclear weapons. Despite the Cold War not being an immediate threat, at least for some years from now, the nuclear codes still travel with the President today, and will for the foreseeable future. The ability to launch nuclear weapons from a single spot is the result of several developments in aeronautics, engineering, nuclear engineering and physics.

Advances in Technology and their Role in the Evolving Warfare

In fact, the global navigation systems that we see in use today have come from this technology. With the ending of the Cold War, there was a big move towards non-proliferation of nuclear sites. This was the prerogative of President Clinton when he took office in the early 1990s. The main points of this administration was, which was not burdened by the fear of the Cold War, that it still supported advances in information technologies, sensors, and simulation. This would enable the effective plan and conduct military operations, quickly design and produce military systems, and train our forces in more realistic settings. These technologies were central to greater battlefield awareness, in order to enable U.S. forces to acquire large amounts of information, analyze it quickly, and communicate it to multiple users simultaneously for coordinated and precise action. One might aver that the above pays mostly lip-service to National Security without making any realistic changes. This is possibly justifiable, that naively enough, the administration believed that the big threats of war of the past few decades were at an end. In prosecuting the war in the Balkans, vis-a-vis the breakup of former Yugoslavia, no new technologies were developed. This was because ground presence was required and the U.S. mostly played the role of peace keepers. One additional strategy was to use armed sanctions against the Iraqis, which had been started under the presidency of George H.W. Bush.

The Current Needs for National Security

This strategy is not going to be useful anymore, other than for conventional warfare. The President, under the current circumstances is charged with dealing with a different set of problems. Certainly the war in Afghanistan and the deposition of the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein were governed by this new strategy. The National security has to evolve to take into account a completely different kind of enemy. and, more importantly, the realization has set in that this war has to be fought on multiple fronts, both abroad and at home. The reasons are mentioned previously and will be briefly discussed here: illegal combatants who are not protected under the Geneva Convention, no specific weaponry required, motivated by nothing other than religious zealotry, combatants might wage all out war within the United States or through small instances of terrorism, the protection of the borders, and the improvements of communication between the law enforcement entities. The passing of the Patriot Act through Congress was the first exercising of the Presidential prerogative with respect to national security.

What enables the Patriot Act to become law and be effectively executed are the vast advances in new kinds of technology. The first is the use of effective data-basing and access to database technology so that vast bits of information on terrorist activities, names, last known locations, expertise in terrorism, contacts, countries of origins, countries traveled etc., can be stored. Accessing this information becomes easier because the information is stored in a proper manner. Creating a common database enables law enforcement entities to input the information from various places into a single resource. This information can also be used to access this information from different locations. This way, all law enforcement can access this information and take the necessary action. This technology makes possible because of increased computer speeds and storage capabilities. Data and text mining capabilities combined with telecommunication technologies enable eavesdropping on telephone or electronic interactions between terrorists.

Advances in space technology, GPS navigation systems and the physics of lasers allows proper targeting, obtaining video confirmation of the whereabouts of enemy combatants and targeting them with pin point precision. Smart bombs or laser guided bombs are capable of striking a target that is hidden under the bridge by tracing the necessary trajectory which destroys the target by does leaves the bridge intact. Similar technology is stored in unmanned aircrafts or bomb sniffing devices. It saves the loss of life of innocents in the target areas and also helps the safety of U.S. armed service personnel. Bunker buster bombs, for example, were used to target the caves of Afghanistan where the Taliban were hiding. These were able to penetrate and explode only at specified depths, leaving the landscape unscathed. With this kind of covert warfare, come the issues of propaganda. Political issues often cloud the effective management of war. The less innocent casualties on both sides of the issue, the easier the President can make the case for warfare.

Face recognition technology also a useful advance. Consider this: Mohammed Atta was the terrorist who flew the first plane into the Twin Towers, and was generally considered the head operation for September 11, 2001. Television coverage of the aftermath showed a hidden camera of Atta entering the plane minutes before the ill-fated flight. If his face was recognized and identified as a terrorist, the plane would not have flown that day. Mug shots of terrorists are currently stored in the database. Faces, much like fingerprints, are considered unique to a person. While faces might appear similar, face recognition software pinpoints distances between key points on the face. This software can also penetrate disguises. Hidden or close circuit cameras can identify faces, store the face from each frame, calculate the parameters and access a database that identifies these parameters. If a match appears, it might be possible to apprehend the would-be terrorist. High speed computing makes this possible.

Conclusion

Most of the advances in technology have allowed the President to carry out a warfare that is continually evolving. These advances can be used for both preventive measures, ensure that the target is comprehensively destroyed, without making undue casualties. This makes remarkable improvements in how wars are prosecuted. They also make the job of the President much easier.