Governing Security ─ The Hidden Origins of American Security Agencies

The impact of public law depends on how politicians secure control of public organizations, and how these organizations in turn are used to define national security. Governing Security explores this dynamic by investigating the surprising history of two major federal agencies that touch the lives of Americans every day: the Roosevelt-era Federal Security Agency (which became today's Department of Health and Human Services) and the more recently created Department of Homeland Security.

Through the stories of both organizations, Cuellar offers a compelling account of crucial developments affecting the basic architecture of our nation. He shows how Americans end up choosing security goals not through an elaborate technical process, but in lively and overlapping settings involving conflict over agency autonomy, presidential power, and priorities for domestic and international risk regulation. Ultimately, as Cuellar shows, the ongoing fights about the scope of national security reshape the very structure of government, particularly during—or in anticipation of—a national crisis.

Mariano-Florentino Cuellar is Stanley Morrison Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and Co-Director of the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation. He has served in the Obama and Clinton Administrations, testified before lawmakers, and has an extensive record of involvement in public service.