Congress and national security

The starting point for any serious discussion of Congress role in matters of national security is the recognition that Congress does some kinds of things very effectively, but generally fails when it tries to do other kinds of things. Consequently, a citizen with a desire to shape national policy may find Congress to be the focal point of national decision, or largely irrelevant, depending almost, entirely on the nature of the issue. As a political scientist, I am tempted to relate this to the provisions of the U.S. Constitution and to the differing structures of the Executive and Legislative institutions; since I am addressing an audience of physicists, I will confine my explanation of causes to the observation that you cannot easily push on a string.