Congress and the Politics of National Security

David P. Auerswald · Colton C. Campbell

Dec 2011 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

In an increasingly complex and unpredictable world, a growing number of observers and practitioners have called for a re-examination of our national security system. Central to any such reform effort is an evaluation of Congress. Is Congress adequately organized to deal with national security issues in an integrated and coordinated manner? How have developments in Congress over the past few decades, such as heightened partisanship, message politics, party-committee relationships and bicameral relations, affected topical security issues? This volume examines variation in the ways Congress has engaged federal agencies overseeing our nation's national security as well as various domestic political determinants of security policy.

About the author

David P. Auerswald is Professor of Security Studies at the National War College. Before coming to the National War College, he was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at George Washington University, Washington DC; served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff, working for then-Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware; and was a staff assistant for US Senator Timothy Wirth of Colorado. He has spent time working on the congressional reform team of the Project on National Security Reform, the US Central Command's 2008–9 Assessment Team and the 2008 'Alternative Futures' project for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He is the author and co-author of Disarmed Democracies: Domestic Institutions and the Use of Force (2000) and The Kosovo Conflict: A Diplomatic History Through Documents (2000).

Colton C. Campbell is Professor of National Security Strategy at the National War College. Prior to joining the National War College, he was a Legislative Aide to US Representative Mike Thompson of California, where he handled Appropriations, Defense and Trade matters for the congressman. Before that, he was an Analyst in American National Government at the Congressional Research Service, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Florida International University and an APSA Congressional Fellow in the office of Senator Bob Graham of Florida. He is the author, co-author and co-editor of several books on Congress, including Discharging Congress: Government by Commission (2001) and Impeaching Clinton: Partisan Strife on Capitol Hill (2004).