During the vice presidential debate last night, moderator Gwen Ifill asked Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin which is a greater threat to America’s national security: a nuclear-armed Iran or an unstable Pakistan? The two candidates both accurately described how the very real possibility of either is very scary and would serve as a major threat to the United States, with Biden focusing closer on the fact that Pakistan already has nuclear weapons and is most likely where Osama bin Laden is currently hiding, and Palin focusing on the danger of an openly hostile Iranian regime with a nuclear weapon. But then Sen. Biden made a very good point which more and more foreign policy analysts and defense specialists have argued for; Biden noted that while it is important to be very cognizant of the dangers posed by Pakistan and Iran, an attack on America will not come from a sovereign state launching a nuclear-tipped ICBM, it will come in the form of a terrorist with a dirty bomb in a suitcase. Maybe that’s the scariest part about studying national security today. We must not only be aware of and guard against hostile states and the numerous visible enemies worldwide, America must also defend and protect itself from the untold numbers of invisible and unknown enemies worldwide. While 9/11 certainly made this point clear to many politicians and leaders within our country, the full meaning of our changing national security and the role of the state has not been fully understood.

The end of the Cold War, in combination with globalization’s effect of making transportation and information exchange significantly easier has brought on a new era in the world of foreign affairs. The traditional Westphalian state that has reigned dominant since the 17th century has seen its absolute power diminish as subnational and transnational entities, such as al-Qaeda or Nike, have seen their economic, ideological, political and even military power grow at the expense of the state. As a result, the reality of our security has been dramatically altered. In order to properly address this dramatic modern security paradigm, significant changes to the roles and responsibilities of America’s military and diplomatic corps along with a focus on worldwide human security as a direct aspect of our national security will be necessary.

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