Insight

National Security Act

Signed July 26, 1947 by US President Harry S. Truman, the National Security Act realigned and reorganized the United States armed forces, foreign policy, and Intelligence Community apparatus in the aftermath of World War II.

Specifically, the act merged the United States Department of War and the United States Department of the Navy into the United States Department of Defense headed by the Secretary of Defense.

It also established the National Security Council, a central place of coordination for national security policy in the Executive Branch, and the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States’ first peacetime intelligence agency.

Resources

Links

  1. National Security Act State Deptartment Website

  2. George Washington University National Security Archive

  3. Text of the Act
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The National Security Act of 1947 can be seen as critical juncture in the history of American democracy. With the creation of the CIA and prioritization of intelligence and national security, the act signalled a new era in goverment secrecy and covert operations.

The need for such extra-legal operations and for the public to be kept in the dark is debateable. At TruthMove, we feel that the undemocratic, fascistic nature of the resulting “National Security State” can be well documented.

Whatever the original intention of these reforms, it is clear that they have led us further and further away from the founding American ideals of freedom, democracy, equality, and justice.