National Security and Double Government

Christopher J. Coyne, Public Choice Michael Glennon's book is important precisely because it pulls back the curtain to reveal the realities of the largely unconstrained U.S. national security state. In doing so, Glennon's analysis shows how the national security apparatus is a threat to the very freedoms its inhabitants and supporters purport to protect.

AJIL, Ashley Deeks, University of Virginia School of Law [An] original and thought-provoking book, with a key goal of explaining why national security policies change little across presidential administrations.

Jordan Michael Smith, Books of the Year 2014, The Boston Globe Though it's a bedrock American principle that citizens can steer their own government by electing new officials, Glennon suggests that in practice, much of our government no longer works that way. In a new book, "National Security and Double Government," he catalogs the ways that the defense and national security apparatus is effectively self-governing, with virtually no accountability, transparency, or checks and balances of any kind. He uses the term "double government": There's the one we elect, and then there's the one behind it, steering huge swaths of policy almost unchecked. Elected officials end up serving as mere cover for the real decisions made by the bureaucracy.

Bruce Ackerman, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science Yale University If constitutional government is to endure in the United States, Americans must confront the fundamental challenges presented by this chilling analysis of the national security state.

Andrew J. Bacevich, Professor of History and International Relations, Boston University Shrewdly updating Walter Bagehot's theory of 'double government,' Michael Glennon shows how present-day Washington really works. In our faux democracy, those we elect to govern serve largely ornamental purposes, while those who actually wield power, especially in the realm of national security, do so chiefly with an eye toward preserving their status and prerogatives. Read this incisive and richly documented book, and you'll understand why.

Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School Taking a leaf from Walter Bagehot's thesis of dual government in Britain, Michael Glennon has transported the concept of 'double government' to the United States analyzing the constitutional institutions, or what he calls the 'Madisonian' side; and a cohort of several hundred senior military, diplomatic, and intelligence officials who run the daily business of national security, or what he calls the 'Trumanite' side. This explains the relatively little difference between the Bush 43 and the Obama presidencies. In this brilliant, deeply researched book, Glennon spells out the relation of his overall thesis to contemporary issues such as the Snowden revelations.

John J. Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison D...

Michael J. Glennon is Professor of International Law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. Before going into teaching, he was the Legal Counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He is the co-author of Foreign Relations and National Security Law, and the author of Constitutional Diplomacy, among other books. His op-ed pieces have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, International Herald-Tribune, Financial Times, and Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ; I. INTRODUCTION ; II. THE TRUMANITE NETWORK ; Origins ; Operation ; Threat Exaggeration ; Secrecy ; Conformism ; III. THE SOURCES OF MADISONIAN ILLUSION ; IV. THE REALITY OF MADISONIAN WEAKNESS ; The Judiciary ; The Congress ; The Presidency ; A Case Study: NSA Surveillance ; V. PLAUSIBLE ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS FOR POLICY CONTINUITY ; The Rational Actor Model ; The Government Politics Model ; The Organizational Behavior Model ; The Network Model ; Conclusion: The Myth of Alternative Competing Hypotheses ; VI. IS REFORM POSSIBLE? CHECKS, SMOKE, AND MIRRORS ; Strengthening systemic checks ; Government cultivation of civic virtue ; VII. CONCLUSION ; INDEX