The document discusses America's history with isolationism prior to World War II and how its defense agencies have evolved over time, including the establishment of the CIA, NASA, Department of Homeland Security, and other diplomatic and military organizations. However, it argues that the U.S. still struggles with upholding equal rights domestically and should focus more on internal issues like hate crimes and police brutality rather than prioritizing foreign threats.

1. How do America’s defense agencies
help or hinder equal rights as a leading
world power at the base of
democracy?

2.  Exploring Isolationism:
 Isolationism: a purposeful refusal to become generally
involved in the affairs of the rest of the world
 Being surrounded by oceans on either side, it was quite
easy for America to adapt into isolationism
 Isolationism influenced America’s policy so greatly in the
late 1930’s and early 1940’s, greatly delaying entry into
WWII
 United States pre-WWII, had little or no concern for the
outside world; only concerned with domestic affairs
 The Neutrality Act proposed by Roosevelt , was a
preventative measure to keep America from being drawn
in to wars outside their territory
 Seeing the war spread rapidly through Europe, America
feared they would become the next target.

4.  Ambassadors: an official representative of the U.S. appointed by
the President to represent the nation in matters of diplomacy
 Diplomats: a person appointed by a national government to
conduct official negotiations and maintain political, economic, and
social relations with another country or countries
 Special Diplomats: persons whom the President names to certain
other top diplomatic posts, also carry the rank of ambassadors
 Diplomatic Immunity: not being subject to the laws of the state to
which they are visiting
 Passports: certificate issued by a government to its citizens who
travel or live abroad; permits citizens to go in and out of their
country and travel to other countries
 Visa: a permit to enter another state, must be obtained by the
country one wishes to enter
 Secretary of State: ranks first among members of the President’s
cabinet ; deals greatly with foreign policy
 Right of Legation: right to send and receive diplomatic
representatives

5.  Department of Defense: created by the National Security Act of 1947;
responsible for safe guarding national security
 Civil Control of the Military: makes the President commander in chief and
gives wide military powers to Congress
 Secretary of Defense: President’s chief aide in advisor in making and
carrying out defense policy and operating head of defense department
 Chief Military Aides: five members of the joint chiefs of staff who serve as
the principal military advisors to the secretary of defense and to the
President of the National Security Counsel
 Military Departments:
 Army: largest of the armed services, responsible for all military
operations on land (up until recently women were not aloud to serve on
the front lines or in combat positions)
 Navy: responsible for sea warfare and defense
 Marines: responsible for land missions pertaining to sea fleets
 Air Force: responsible for all military operations in air and aerospace

6.  In the aftermath of WWII America saw advancements in
transportation, medicine, weaponry, communications, electronics, etc.
 The C.I.A. (Central Intelligence Agency)
 Created by Congress in 1947, under the direction of the National
Security Council and a director appointed by the President and
confirmed by the Senate
 Three major tasks of the C.I.A. include: coordinating information-
gathering activities of all State, Defense, other federal agencies
involved in the areas of foreign affairs and national
defense, analysis, and evaluation of all data collected by the
aforementioned agencies, and continual briefing of all updated
statuses to the President and National Security Council of acquired
intelligence
 Although most of the foreign intelligence is obtained legally through
public sources such as foreign newspapers, publications, radio
broadcasts, travelers, satellite photos, etc. a large portion of the
information is obtained through espionage (spying)
 Although the C.I.A. can operate out of the realm of public scrutiny and

7.  The Department of Homeland Security
 Established in 2002, began operation in 2003
 Major responsibilities include: border and
transportation security; infrastructure protection;
emergency preparedness and response; chemical,
biological, radiological, and nuclear defense; and
information analysis (intelligence)
 Main focus is the increasingly daunting task of
protecting America from terrorism
 Terrorism: use of violence to intimidate a
government or a society, usually for political or
biological reasons

9.  The space race first began with the launch of Sputnik I
by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957
 America then challenged the Soviet Union with their
satellite Explorer I and the birth of their space program,
NASA
 NASA has not only been beneficial in the space race, it
has led to advances in astronomy, physics,
communications, meteorology, medicine, and the
environmental sciences since its development
 The permanently occupied space station, under the
direction of Russia, Canada, Brazil, Japan, the ten-
nation European Space Center, and the United States,
is a group effort to explore space with this advanced

10.  Whether you call it a draft or conscription, compulsory military
service is a huge source of military man power.
 For years, the first several colonies and nine states after we
became the United States required all able-bodied males to serve
in the military, although Congress refused a national draft till 1917
with the Selective Service Act to draft men for WWI
 Drafts continued into WWII with the Selective Service and Training
Act of 1940 and the draft policies would then be revised again in
1948 with another Selective Service Act
 The draft was for able-bodied young men between the ages of 18
½ and 26
 Although the power of the President to draft was ended in 1973, all
males over the age of 18 must register, although the Congress
who have to allow the President the authority to draft the young
men registered

11.  With the development of all these foreign agencies
we’ve taken it upon ourselves to invade any and all
countries we feel need to change their ways and
become a democracy. Unfortunately, although we see
ourselves as a prime example of a functioning
democracy, and a country where all people are free
and equal, we are only fooling ourselves.
 It took us over 200 years to have equal rights for all
people in our country, which is unacceptable in a
democratic, free state.
 And frankly, equal rights are still not being upheld on a
daily basis in this country. If we made interracial
marriage legal, we need to make gay marriage legal
nation wide and not make it a matter of religious morals

12.  We are so worried with fighting terrorism on our
borders and on the front lines in foreign countries that
we ignore the internal terrorism we see everyday.
 Terrorism is defined as use of violence to intimidate a
government or a society, usually for political, biological,
or religious reasons. People use violence everyday to
intimidate each other in our country. Between gay
bashing, hate crimes, police brutality, etc. we are only
hurting ourselves. We strive to eliminate terrorism but,
we fear other countries more than we fear ourselves.
Although the acts may not be on as large a scale as
foreign attacks they are still extremely harmful and
deadly in nature.

14.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u2fTYUjpm
U&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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 Dominationtrn, PopUp. "NASA Funds Commercial Space Taxi
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funds-commercial-space-taxi-development-worth-269-million-432431/>.
 "Occupy Davis Protesters Blockade Police (Raw Footage) - YouTube."
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. YouTube. Web. 08 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u2fTYUjpmU>.
 Tatiana LaBarbera, Jelani Cornick, and Franchesca Lara
 Participating in Government Regnier Pd 8