What is the Greatest Threat to National Security?

December 29, 2009
by Sidney Kane

National security is a highly ambiguous concept that has different meanings to different people. However, most definitions typically contain common elements including protecting values, territorial integrity, political interests, and economic interests. By that definition things like interstate war, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, natural disaster, and disease could be considered threats to national security. For the sake of the United States, the greatest threat to national security over the next five years is the nuclear proliferation of non-state terrorist organizations.

Why nuclear terrorism - and not another factor - is the greatest threat:

If the greatest threat to national security was solely based on the number of deaths incurred then disease would certainly be the winner. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease alone kills 631,636 Americans yearly which is more than interstate war, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, and natural disaster combined. Disease encompasses all of the elements of a national security threat, however, it unfortunately seems to have become common place and, despite the death toll, it doesn't seem to have the same type of impact on American culture as say a terrorist attack. In the case of natural disasters, they undoubtedly have a major impact on U.S. national security, however, they do not necessarily have a huge effect outside of the respective region.

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