American Identity Narratives: A threat to National Security?

Abstract

Why do America’s identity narratives matter for national security? Current American identity narratives matter to the USG because a divided society may lead to a divided military, or worse, a civil-military divide so profound that the military might one day resemble some version of a Praetorian Guard—an element almost as divorced from its citizens as it is from its adversaries. Additionally, the tradition of assigning identities to groups and individuals creates social tensions that degrade the cohesion for a healthy American society from which, the Defense Department will continue to draw its recruits. The ultimate goal of this thesis seeks to inform USG that priority should be given to researching and studying the conflicting American identity narratives which, at the time of this writing, show no sign of self-correction.