NATIONAL SECURITY STRUCTURE America's national security structure has evolved within the framework of its Constitution, its customs, and its traditions. Powers bearing on national security are vested by the Constitution in the government as a whole, and are shared primarily by the President and the Congress. Under the system of checks and balances, these governmental elements have developed distinctive patterns of relationships in their concern with the national security. Sensitive to the dangers of militarism, the Founding Fathers established requisite safeguards. They designated our highest elected civilian official, the President, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and of the State militias when called into the service of the United States. They placed with the Congress the power to levy taxes for the common defense, to declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a navy, and to make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces. Over the years these precepts have remained unchanged. However, there have been strong tendencies to influence them, at the Executive, the Congressional and, recently, even at the Judicial levels; these influences have, in turn, ebbed and flowed in consideration of public opinion. Just as man has been characterized as being interdependent and not independent, so is a nation. In the final analysis, the National Security Structure reflects on the nation's interests, objectives, and strategy. What we plan for today and tomorrow is a continuation of our American way of life. The real challenge to the United States is to continually examine and implement methods by which the republic can meet its responsibilities and carry out its aspirations without, at the same time, renouncing those precepts which have made us great. An esteemed member of Congress once noted that our concern should center not so much on freedoms from, as on freedoms for a better, more creative life for all peoples of the earth. In assuring our national security, as President Nixon has pointed out, "We do not seek power as an end in itself. We seek power adequate to our purpose, and our purpose is peace. Reading List 1. Ackley, Charles W. The Modern Military in American Society. Philadelphia: Westminister Press, 1972. 2. "The Budget of the U.S. Government--1974. February 9, 1973, pp. 544-552. Science, 3. Green, Mark J. Who Runs Congress? New York: Bantam, 1972. 4. Hilsman, Roger. The Politics of Policy Making in Defense and Foreign Affairs. New York: Harper & Rowe, 1971. 5. Jesse, William Leyda. New Military Professional. Riverside, Calif. Univ. of Calif., 1972. 6. McGarvey, Patrick J. C.I.A., The Myth and the Madness. New York: Saturday Review, 1972. 7. "Nixon, Congress Battle Over Purse Strings." Electronics, February 15, 1973, pp. 68-82. 8. "The Relevance of Traditional Strategy." Foreign Affairs, Jan. January 1973, pp. 253-266. NATURAL RESOURCES Our resources are of two kinds, renewable and non-renewable. Those that live--such as plants, trees, and livestock--can be renewed provided the soil and water resources are properly managed and protected. The non-renewable resources--which range from sand and gravel to tin, copper, chrome, oil and gas--represent a deposited material. Conservation here means managing the removal of the deposit so that we do not leave locked in the mine a substantial tonnage that can never again be reclaimed economically. It also includes recovering key minerals from scrap. There is urgent need for finding and developing new domestic reserves of critical minerals. Among the ways of stimulating exploration are (a) better collection and analysis of basic facts of the minerals situation and outlook, (b) promotion of improved techniques of exploration, (c) modernization of the rules governing exploration on federally owned land, and (d) provision for financial incentives. Geologists generally agree that the United States still possesses vast hidden mineral resources, but they cannot tell how great these undiscovered resources may be, indicate where individual deposits lie, or estimate how many could be worked at a profit. They also generally agree that extensive new discoveries of traditional materials will call for new methods. Not much more can be expected from the search for outcroppings of minerals that have long been commercially important. lows: Our domestic-supply position of selected minerals is as fol |