Meet the Author: David C. Unger on The Emergency State: America’s Pursuit of Absolute National Security at All Costs
david unger came to san francisco to talk about his new book. His underlying question is whether the trillions of dollars diverted from domestic needs to the Pentagon since 9/11 have truly made the United States safer. Unger describes how, over 70 years and several bloody wars since Pearl Harbor, our government has assembled a com- plicated and increasingly ineffective network of security ser- vices. Trillions of tax dollars have been diverted from essential domestic needs while the Pentagon created a worldwide web of military bases, inventing new American security interests where none previously existed. Unger’s thesis is that this quest has not only damaged our democratic institutions and under- mined our economic strength—it has fundamentally failed to make us safer. In The Emergency State, Unger says that our secu-
rity bureaucracy has become remarkably ineffective at con- fronting the elusive, non-state sponsored threats we now face. He traces a series
of missed
opportunities—from the end of World War II to the election of Barack Obama—when we
could have paused to rethink our defense strategy and didn’t. We have ultimately failed to dismantle our outdated national security state because both parties are equally responsible for its expansion.
Unger concludes that our leadership has eagerly traded away the country’s greatest strengths for a fleeting illusion of safety. His talk and his book are fascinating food for thought.
Crossroads Spring 2012 17
Author photos: Michael Mustacchi
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