How do America’s defense agencies

help or hinder equal rights as a leading

world power at the base of

democracy?

Exploring Isolationism: Isolationism: a purposeful refusal to become generally

involved in the affairs of the rest of the world

Being surrounded by oceans on either side, it was quite easy for America to adapt into isolationism

Isolationism influenced America’s policy so greatly in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, greatly delaying entry into WWII

United States pre-WWII, had little or no concern for the outside world; only concerned with domestic affairs

The Neutrality Act proposed by Roosevelt , was a preventative measure to keep America from being drawn in to wars outside their territory

Seeing the war spread rapidly through Europe, America feared they would become the next target.

Ambassadors: an official representative of the U.S. appointed by the President to represent the nation in matters of diplomacy

Diplomats: a person appointed by a national government to conduct official negotiations and maintain political, economic, and social relations with another country or countries

Special Diplomats: persons whom the President names to certain other top diplomatic posts, also carry the rank of ambassadors

Diplomatic Immunity: not being subject to the laws of the state to which they are visiting

Passports: certificate issued by a government to its citizens who travel or live abroad; permits citizens to go in and out of their country and travel to other countries

Visa: a permit to enter another state, must be obtained by the country one wishes to enter

Secretary of State: ranks first among members of the President’s cabinet ; deals greatly with foreign policy

Right of Legation: right to send and receive diplomatic representatives

Department of Defense: created by the National Security Act of 1947;

responsible for safe guarding national security

Civil Control of the Military: makes the President commander in chief and

gives wide military powers to Congress

Secretary of Defense: President’s chief aide in advisor in making and

carrying out defense policy and operating head of defense department

Chief Military Aides: five members of the joint chiefs of staff who serve as

the principal military advisors to the secretary of defense and to the

President of the National Security Counsel

Military Departments:

Army: largest of the armed services, responsible for all military

operations on land (up until recently women were not aloud to serve on

the front lines or in combat positions)

Navy: responsible for sea warfare and defense

Marines: responsible for land missions pertaining to sea fleets

Air Force: responsible for all military operations in air and aerospace

In the aftermath of WWII America saw advancements in

transportation, medicine, weaponry, communications, electronics, etc.

The C.I.A. (Central Intelligence Agency)

Created by Congress in 1947, under the direction of the National

Security Council and a director appointed by the President and

confirmed by the Senate

Three major tasks of the C.I.A. include: coordinating information-

gathering activities of all State, Defense, other federal agencies

involved in the areas of foreign affairs and national

defense, analysis, and evaluation of all data collected by the

aforementioned agencies, and continual briefing of all updated

statuses to the President and National Security Council of acquired

intelligence

Although most of the foreign intelligence is obtained legally through

public sources such as foreign newspapers, publications, radio

broadcasts, travelers, satellite photos, etc. a large portion of the

information is obtained through espionage (spying)

Although the C.I.A. can operate out of the realm of public scrutiny and

with only surface checks on their activities the National Security Act of

The Department of Homeland Security

Established in 2002, began operation in 2003

Major responsibilities include: border and

transportation security; infrastructure protection;

emergency preparedness and response; chemical,

biological, radiological, and nuclear defense; and

information analysis (intelligence)

Main focus is the increasingly daunting task of

protecting America from terrorism

Terrorism: use of violence to intimidate a

government or a society, usually for political or

biological reasons

The space race first began with the launch of Sputnik I

by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957

America then challenged the Soviet Union with their

satellite Explorer I and the birth of their space program,

NASA

NASA has not only been beneficial in the space race, it

has led to advances in astronomy, physics,

communications, meteorology, medicine, and the

environmental sciences since its development

The permanently occupied space station, under the

direction of Russia, Canada, Brazil, Japan, the ten-

nation European Space Center, and the United States,

is a group effort to explore space with this advanced

research laboratory.

Whether you call it a draft or conscription, compulsory military

service is a huge source of military man power.

For years, the first several colonies and nine states after we

became the United States required all able-bodied males to serve

in the military, although Congress refused a national draft till 1917

with the Selective Service Act to draft men for WWI

Drafts continued into WWII with the Selective Service and Training

Act of 1940 and the draft policies would then be revised again in

1948 with another Selective Service Act

The draft was for able-bodied young men between the ages of 18

½ and 26

Although the power of the President to draft was ended in 1973, all

males over the age of 18 must register, although the Congress

who have to allow the President the authority to draft the young

men registered

With the development of all these foreign agencies

we’ve taken it upon ourselves to invade any and all

countries we feel need to change their ways and

become a democracy. Unfortunately, although we see

ourselves as a prime example of a functioning

democracy, and a country where all people are free

and equal, we are only fooling ourselves.

It took us over 200 years to have equal rights for all

people in our country, which is unacceptable in a

democratic, free state.

And frankly, equal rights are still not being upheld on a

daily basis in this country. If we made interracial

marriage legal, we need to make gay marriage legal

nation wide and not make it a matter of religious morals

which is the purpose of separation of church and state.

We are so worried with fighting terrorism on our

borders and on the front lines in foreign countries that

we ignore the internal terrorism we see everyday.

Terrorism is defined as use of violence to intimidate a

government or a society, usually for political, biological,

or religious reasons. People use violence everyday to

intimidate each other in our country. Between gay

bashing, hate crimes, police brutality, etc. we are only

hurting ourselves. We strive to eliminate terrorism but,

we fear other countries more than we fear ourselves.

Although the acts may not be on as large a scale as

foreign attacks they are still extremely harmful and

deadly in nature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u2fTYUjpm

U&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Zambito, Thomas. "Queens Gay Basher Daniel Rodriguez Gets 12 Years

in Prison for Attack outside Deli - New York Daily News." Featured Articles

From The New York Daily News. Daily News, 21 Jan. 2011. Web. 08 Dec.

2011. <http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-01-

21/news/27096300_1_deli-prison-basher>.

Dominationtrn, PopUp. "NASA Funds Commercial Space Taxi

Development worth $269 Million | ZME Science." Science News, Science

Research, Science Articles | ZME Science Blog. ZMEScience, 19 Apr.

2011. Web. 08 Dec. 2011. <http://www.zmescience.com/research/nasa-

funds-commercial-space-taxi-development-worth-269-million-432431/>.

"Occupy Davis Protesters Blockade Police (Raw Footage) - YouTube."

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. YouTube. Web. 08 Dec. 2011.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u2fTYUjpmU>.

Tatiana LaBarbera, Jelani Cornick, and Franchesca Lara

Participating in Government Regnier Pd 8