Presidency's Supremacy in Defending National Security

The emergence of the United States as a global power in the aftermath of World War II precipitated numerous clashes between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government over national security. The president's authority to deploy troops abroad to fulfill NATO commitments, President Truman's seizure of a private steel mill during the Korean War, the Bricker Amendment, the Vietnam War and Pentagon Papers litigation, the War Powers Act, and President Carter's unilateral revocation of the Taiwan Defense Treaty are illustrative. Contemporary national security disputes between President Reagan and Congress swirl around covert action, SALT II, the 1972 ABM Treaty, and the testing of nuclear or antisatellite weapons.