Is the National Security State fully justifiable?

Asma Bachir Bey

The National Security State is the act of prioritizing the security of the country from either internal or external threats through advancements in security tools, expanding the army and even imposing exceptional laws. This last one might enforce a culture  of secrecy  which means that the government will not  share all of the information with the public but instead keep it from them under the excuse of ensuring their safety. However, this was conflicting with the U.S democracy rules and the right for transparency. 

The urgent need of the U.S. for a fast and cost-effective way to test and advance in nuclear power resulting from both the pressure of the Arms Race and the desire to provide security and peace for its citizens led it to take over lands in rural Nevada; some of which belonged to indigenous nations; and turn them into a local testing site.

The AEC made sure to control information and only provide general and vague explanations which made the exposed people unaware of how dangerous the radiation is and of the catastrophic consequences that are coming ahead. The people who lived near the testing area started to get affected by the radiation. The results of it included animal deaths, miscarriages of ewes and mysterious illnesses among the workers dealing with the sheep. The locals started to make assumptions about these devastating events. They believed that the contaminated dust was the cause of the sheep deaths. Although Dr. Harold Knapp’s investigation in 1979 confirmed the harmful effects, the AEC still claims that even high doses of radiation wouldn’t cause any harm. 

From an external perspective as a non-U.S citizen, I believe that the national security state still exists today, even though the cold War ended in 1991. I see that the U.S  government continues to invest in expanding its army not solely for defence but to generally maintain global power. Today’s new Arm’s race would be about AI as the US is releasing new models, China is responding with its own advancements creating a form of competition.

The new and fast advancements in AI have pushed national secrecy. First to suppress competitors, and second, because there is a genuine concern that AI could be misused if it falls into the wrong hands, especially as we lack the full understanding of its potential consequences. Therefore it would be a wise decision to have control over how much information is shared.