What is “National Security” Anyway?

In Episode 77 of his podcast "In the Room with Peter Bergen," New America Vice President and ASU Professor of Practice Peter Bergen examines the meaning and uses of the phrase "national security."

Declaring something a matter of “national security” is a great way to get people to take it seriously — and Congress to fund it. After all, what matters more than keeping the United States and its citizens safe from foreign attack? But what about the economic security of the citizenry? Or their health? President Franklin Delano Roosevelt thought those should be included too — and that if the government didn’t prioritize them as national security issues, Americans might begin to look to autocrats to provide for their well-being. Was FDR right?

.Listen to the episode on Audible