The national security state is when secret bureaucracies within a government go after both real and perceived threats on the basis of protecting the nation’s security from external and internal threats. This ‘protection’ of the nations security within the United States (US) led to mass loyalty checks toward members of the public such as figures in academia, Hollywood, and labor unions, along with the intrusion into other nations governments and politics by trying to overthrow certain governments and participating in torture and sabotage missions (Dean, 611-612). With the creation of the idea of national security, many people in power both within and outside the government used it as rational for their ideas and the US involvement. Due to that, a culture of secrecy was created, which is when the government or people of power, keep important information or involvements from the public through reasons of national security, which leads to theories and conspiracies about both the government and people in power from both the public and rival political groups (Dean, 612). By having both the public and people of power from both political sides, creating theories and conspiracies based off of certain events or interactions creates a distrust of the government and those in or out of power based on their involvement. Some of the more famous incidents that were based on national security and the culture of secrecy were the release of the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate scandal, which helped foster a distrust of the government or people related to the government in any way, since they could be lying about their motives or involvements about anything but mainly anything related to national security (Dean, 612).
With the looming threat of nuclear war in the early years of the Cold War, the US government decided they needed a local nuclear testing site which they placed in rural Nevada / Utah and justified the nuclear test site to the public by saying that it’s needed for national security. While the national security state justification worked for the first few nuclear tests, the ones that happened in 1953, caused the public downwind of the tests to lose faith in the government (Fox, 20). This was because of the massive sheep die-off that occurred that year due to the sheep being near or digesting nuclear fallout from a nuclear test, which led to the ranchers going to officials to see what caused the deaths (Fox 9-12). Despite the ranchers being told that the nuclear tests had nothing to do with the sheep die-off, they started to suspect that wasn’t true because their expertise with sheep was being dismissed by the government and the answers the government was providing didn’t add up with what the ranchers experienced (Fox, 15-16). While this didn’t make the downwind public distrust the national security justification fully, they lost their trust in the government. In regard to the national security state today, I think that it still exists even though the Cold War ended due to the government and those in power not telling the public of certain events or involvements that happened. This is because the government today still uses national security justification to get information about the public but not tell us what it’s used for along with them participating in events or getting involved in things that the public doesn’t find out about unless it’s leaked or uncovered.
Will Wright 
I like how you mentioned that the people living downwind from the testing site began to lose faith in the government, creating a lack of trust between the government and civilians in the area. I think the tests in rural Nevada and Utah and the reaction of the government and the ranchers highlight a significant shift in the relationship between the United States government and its people. I also agree with you that the national security state still exists to this day. The government still uses national security threats as a rationale, and I think you made an interesting point when you noted that the public often does not find out about the involvements and doings of the government until they are uncovered or leaked.
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I appreciate how you pointed out that people in power within AND outside of the government have used the national security state to justify secrecy. I think this speaks to the fact that although the culture of secrecy and “security” started within the government, it quickly spread to many civilian institutions including scientific, technical, and social science research (Dean). When we analyze the justification of secrecy and how it has spread in that regard, it is easier to understand why some individuals—particularly older generations, who were alive during the Cold War era—have such a strong distrust in our government and their intentions. This makes me wonder how the government could go about earning back the trust of the American people, and if successful, how this could affect our political landscape.
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