David J. Rothkopf

Presents a history of the National Security Council, analyzing how each administration has used the NSC to define and shape foreign and military policy in line with their own political agenda.

They number six thousand on a planet of six billion. They run our governments, our largest corporations, the powerhouses of international finance, the media, world religions, and, from the shadows, the world's most dangerous criminal and terrorist organizations. They are the global superclass, and they are shaping the history of our time. Today's superclass has achieved unprecedented levels of wealth and power. They have globalized more rapidly than any other group. But do they have more in common with one another than with their own countrymen, as nationalist critics have argued? Has their influence fed the growing economic and social inequity that divides the world? Who sets the rules for a group that operates beyond national laws? Drawn from exclusive interviews and extensive original reporting, this book draws back the curtain on a privileged society that most of us know little about, even though it profoundly affects our lives.

"During the past decade America has crossed the fine line that separates national security from national insecurity. Major misadventures like the invasion of Iraq, the embrace of torture, the expansion of domestic surveillance programs, the failure to intervene earlier in Syria, the constant shifting of "red lines" in that country or Iran, the bumbling and lack of follow-through in Libya, and the failure to stand up to abuses by "allies" in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq or by rivals like Russia or Iran, have exposed how fear has warped Americans' perspectives, causing both overreaction and inaction. For over a decade, the United States has rationalized bad policies into prudent ones on an ongoing basis. David Rothkopf, CEO and Editor-at-Large of Foreign Policy, has reached out to his extraordinary network of high level contacts conducting over 100 interviews with the players who made and influence the critical international decisions of the Bush and Obama years. He asks not only how we ended up where we are, but the bigger questions about where we should be, and how U.S. leadership can be restored. Why does the U.S. defense and policy making apparatus remain largely as it was structured 70 years ago at the end of the Second World War? Why are we unable to evolve, to set aside outdated models, to better manage our resources, to find new ways to lead and to protect ourselves? And who are the key visionaries and actors who can help the US bring the age of insecurity to a close? In National Insecurity, Rothkopf offers a way forward"--