The Obamians, by James Mann: on Homeland Security


Gerald Ford: 1970s CIA assassination efforts led to ban on assassinations

The Obama administration referred to [stepped up] drone attacks as "targeted killing," rather than "assassinations." The euphemism was of legal significance. The 1970s congressional investigations of the CIA had uncovered the American efforts to assassinate foreign leaders such as Fidel Castro, and in response President Ford issued an executive order that banned assassinations. The order remained in effect in 2009. The administration's formal reasoning for why its overseas killings did not constitute assassination went like this: Congress had authorized the use of force against al-Qaeda. Therefore, America was at war, and under the law of war, America had the right to defend itself "by targeting persons such as high-level al-Qaeda leaders who are planning attacks." Since the laws of war permitted targeted killing, the Obama administration argued, therefore the practice wasn't illegal, and "hence does not constitute assassination."
Source: The Obamians, by James Mann, p.217 Jun 14, 2012

Hillary Clinton: Smart Power: blend of military power and soft power

The Democrats were eager to show that they were not somehow soft on national security: they needed to overcome their "peacenik-y" image.

The Republicans had been preoccupied with military power. Democrats' intellectual leaders wrote about the importance of America's "soft power"--the influence of its intangible values, ideas, mass culture and educational institutions. In 2005 the Center for American Progress put together a proposed new national security strategy for the US that was given the name "Integrated Power": it called for a blend of military power and soft power. Eventually, the Democrats came up with another phrase, "smart power," that convened well their convictions that the Bush Republicans had been dumb. Hillary Clinton would eventually make "smart power" the catchphrase for her first major speech as secretary of state.

Whatever the right adjective was, Democrats' established leaders were still in favor of American power and they wanted to preserve it.

Source: The Obamians, by James Mann, p. 55 Jun 14, 2012

Joe Biden: 1970s: control CIA from outside; 1980s: time to lay off

Presidents of both parties chafed at and sought to circumvent post-Vietnam restrictions on their authority such as the ban on assassinations imposed in 1976 or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. By the end of the 1970s, however, the mood in Congress had begun to shift and the reform era came to an end.

[For example], in the mid-70s Biden participated in the congressional efforts to investigate the CIA and get it under outside control. A few years later, however, as the country was shifting to the right, he served notice at a Senate hearing that it was time to lay off. "The momentum is moving the other way," Biden told representatives of the ACLU. Yes, he agreed with their views, Biden said, but the issue of writing rules for the CIA did not have [much] popular appeal.

"Let me tell you something," Biden declared. "The folks don't care. The average American could care less right now about any of this. You keep talking about public concern. There ain't none."

Source: The Obamians, by James Mann, p. 18 Jun 14, 2012

Richard Nixon: 1969: Doing away with draft undercut antiwar movement

American leaders talked about the importance of overcoming the "Vietnam syndrome"--meaning a fear of casualties and opposition to further US military intervention overseas. Vietnam taught the lesson that even a supposedly small and limited war could eventually consume the US and divert it from all other objectives. The main lesson was that if American resorts to force at all, it had better do so carefully.

Vietnam had social and political ramifications that were not foreseen at the time. The war led to the abolition of the draft, and that in turn had sweeping consequences for many other aspects of American life.

In the fall of 1969, demonstrations against Vietnam spread from college campuses to the American heartland. Pres. Nixon tried in various ways to undercut the growing strength of the antiwar movement. The one that succeeded was to do away with the draft. In April 1970, Nixon announced that he was reducing draft calls to zero and was meanwhile increasing the pay for military service

Source: The Obamians, by James Mann, p. 14 Jun 14, 2012

  • The above quotations are from The Obamians
    The Struggle Inside the White House to Redefine American Power
    by James Mann    .
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