Cold War Origins

The national security state is a term that is used when a country prioritizes their national security concerns over other issues. For example their civil liberties and individual freedoms. It was created to provide security to the United States from any internal or external threats that may occur. The culture of secrecy is a term that refers to practices and societal norms for protecting classified information. For example, this is the need to keep public things secret. Organizations, the government and military would use these practices. An example of this could be Vietnam or the assisination of a president, which can lead to distrust in American culture. (Dean, 2011).

  During the time of the cold war there was nuclear testing in rural Nevada and Utah. Here there was a significant nuclear build up from the United States government. Some reasons that this had occurred were the need to stay up to date with other nations and by doing this they can come up with new advanced ideas. By testing these atomic weapons they were hoping to guarantee maximum military atomic strength. Testing them in these rural areas was faster and sped up weapon development programs rather than finding somewhere else to test them (they could also test it then return to their labs that were close by). At these sites they would store and test new weapons and without these test sites the US would have fallen behind in atomic developments. From this classified activities would take place and it showed the growth of the national security state at that time in rural Nevada/Utah. Because there was a lot of secrecy going on, I think the community’s relationship with the government changed and created a sense of division. The increase of the national security state in those areas can represent how the government was increasing control over resources and land during the cold war and I think it shows how they prioritize national security over the citizens. Because of this a lot of citizens were in a panic and it led to conspiracies and distrust especially when atomic testing was close by. (Dean, 2011)

Yes, the national security state still exists today even though the Cold War ended in 1991; however it has evolved since the cold war. National security is still a major concern for a lot of countries. In fact since the Cold War the United States national security secret bureaucracies has increased. The United States government still prioritizes national security concerns and has put policies and practices in place to do this. However, from this comes secrets which I think like mentioned earlier can lead to distrust and can make people feel like their individual freedom is being threatened. But overall it is still used to this date for protecting the United States from any threats. (Dean, 2011).