Includes bibliographical references and index.

In this book the author shows how deeply militarized our culture has become; how the role of the national security sector has shape-shifted and grown over the past century to the point of being financially unsustainable and confused in mission. Here she charts America's dangerous drift into a state of perpetual war. One of my favorite ideas is, never to keep an unnecessary soldier, Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1792.

"Drift opens with an analysis of the politics surrounding the Vietnam War, focusing on the Abrams Doctrine, which stressed public support for military operations. Maddow writes that Lyndon B. Johnson's reluctance to utilize the National Guard and the Army Reserve began the trend of separating the military and its use from the purview of the American population. She discusses the 1973 War Powers Resolution and the evolving role of the American President in military conflicts. After elaborating on the Reagan administration's role in the Invasion of Grenada and the Iran-Contra affair, Drift gives credit to George H. W. Bush for seeking Congressional approval for Operation Desert Storm. Maddow is critical of the use of private contractors and intelligence agencies in warfare. She writes about the American incursion into Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden and makes the point that land set aside for houbara bustard hunting gave reason for both Pakistan and the United States to excuse the existence of a secret base that originated drone attacks."--from the Wikipedia Overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drift:_The_Unmooring_of_American_Military_Power

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