National security must not be an afterthought

In the wake of Osama bin Laden’s well-deserved demise, many politicians and commentators have all but erased national security as an issue in the 2012 campaign. Under this analysis, President Obama’s decision to end the decade-long hunt for bin Laden by ordering the Abbottabad raid demonstrates his foreign policy competence, and fits seamlessly into his predetermined policy to wind down the war on terror globally and in Afghanistan specifically.

Adam Smith wrote in “The Wealth of Nations” that “the first duty of the sovereign, that of protecting the society from the violence and invasion of other independent societies, can be performed only by means of a military force.”