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Richard Clarke first remarked that he was motivated to write his book after encountering today’s youth who are often disillusioned with the political process. Previous generations have witnessed several government-led successes, from triumph in World War II to the creation of the Internet. Many of today’s young people, however, have witnessed several successive failures of the US government in the realm of national security, from the inability to defeat al-Qaeda to inadequately addressing the pressing issue of climate change. According to Clarke, not only has the government failed in properly addressing these challenges, but in some cases it has established even greater hindrances to achieving national security through the creation of overwhelming bureaucracy, as exemplified in the Department of Homeland Security.

After outlining the current situation, Clarke attributed the recent trend of government failures to two particular phenomena: the politicization of national security and the de-emphasis on professionalization in government.

First, Richard Clarke stated that national security has too often been used as a divisive, partisan issue when it should instead be a matter of national unity. Clarke noted that there are over 9,000 political appointees within the government who deal with national security, and the Department of Homeland Security houses more political appointees that any other department in US history. While Clarke conceded that there is a place for political appointees in government, he stated that this role should be dramatically curtailed with respect to national security. The pervasiveness of partisan appointees today starkly contrasts with the past, when the National Security Council was deliberately established in 1947 with nonpartisan appointees to avoid politicization of national security decision-making.

Second, Richard Clarke described how the level of expertise within the government has markedly declined. Instead of fostering a culture that rewards excellence, the government has outsourced many of its critical responsibilities to the private sector. The growing proximity of the government to the private sector is exemplified by the fact that CIA reports are as frequently written by for-profit contractors as they are by the government. Clarke noted that several billions of dollars are devoted to the intelligence community per year, even though little of this money is directed to the vital task of intelligence analysis. He believes that the next administration has the ability and the responsibility to reverse this trend. An influential executive could serve as inspiration for reform by highlighting the nobility of government service. Also, he advocated for both the establishment of high qualifications and the periodic recertification of government employees to ensure they are capable in their positions. He further stated that Congress has a role to play in restoring government accountability and that the media has an obligation to report government failures not as isolated episodes but rather as part of a larger systemic trend.

Looking towards the next administration, Clarke stressed the importance of separating national security from partisan politics and the importance of cultivating a renewed appreciation for professionalism in government. According to Clarke, there are simply too many challenges facing the United States to ignore these issues. The future of the nation is contingent upon the government’s ability to execute the aforementioned reforms in order to succeed in upholding the nation’s security.