It is the responsibility of the government to protect the state and the citizens it governs against any type of national crises using the various power projections in its possession such as military, political power, diplomacy, economic power just to mention a few. The country’s democratic way of life, its institutions of governance as a nation should be permanently protected and continuously enhanced.
Cyber warfare is an imminent threat to the American national security. When James Stavridis, a former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and dean of Fletcher School, was addressing a Tufts audience, he mentioned that cyber security is what concerns him most as a threat to the U.S. This is because, its level of threat is high even though the level of preparation to counter it is low (Ragovin, 2017).
To combat this, the US has developed two strategies that would help in both the preparation and fight it. A project was recently started, it is known as Plan X. The plan will comprise non-military entities and will be more oriented in protecting the Defense Department computer systems than in destroying those of enemies (Clarke & Knake, 2012). Another solution crafted is the creation of a new idea of the operating system that is different from the one used today, i.e., hardening them. The latter answer seems to be the best solution since an important aspect of any war is having a deep knowledge of the battlefield (Paganini, 2013).
There are three levels of government; federal, state and local. Local government is the lowest level and is more concerned with matters close to home. Sometimes it is referred to as ‘grassroots’ government. Their responsibilities are to look after parts of the local community such as new local roads, where buildings should be placed etc. The state government received funding from state-based levies and also from federal goods and service tax and they are responsible for establishing local governments, issuing licenses, conduct elections, ratify amendments to U.S constitution, etc. The federal government is the highest level and is responsible for duties as establishing the army and the navy, print money, declare war, entering into treaties with foreign governments, making laws necessary to enforce the constitution and much more.
Delving deeper into the federal government, it is comprised of three branches, namely the Executive made up of the President and about 500, 000 workers, Legislative comprising of the Senate and House of Representatives and the Judicial made up of the Supreme Court and lower courts. These are detailed in Articles I – III of the federal Constitution. The Legislative branch creates statutory laws. Although citizens can vote in some statutes by ballot, the federal legislative branch enacts the statutes. They can check both the Judicial and Executive branches. Once the Legislative branch has created the statutory laws, the Executive enforces them. The President of the United States heads the Executive. They can also check and balance both the Legislative and Judicial branches. The judicial branch interprets the statutory laws and the Constitution. The Supreme Court heads this branch, and each state’s judicial branch is led by its highest form of appellate court. It checks and balances both the other two remaining branches (Hamilton, 2005). For example, it can invalidate statutes enacted by parliament if they conflict with the Constitution.
- Ragovin, Helene. (16 November 2017). “The Looming Threats to National Security.” Tufts Now.
- Clarke, R. A., & Knake, R. K. (2012). Cyber war: The next threat to national security and what to do about it.
- Paganini, Pierluigi. (29 January 2013). “How the US is preparing for cyber warfare?” Security Affairs.
- Hamilton, J. (2005). Branches of government. Edina, Minn: ABDO Pub.