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xviii | Introduction Environmental Quality was added. More recently, as drug use in America became a national issue, the Office of National Drug Control Policy was added. The num- ber of people working directly for the presidential staff has grown along with the Executive Office. When Jefferson was president, he had two staff members—a messenger and a secretary. In 1857, Congress authorized the president to hire one clerk. By 1868, that number grew to three. Today, it is estimated that more than 2,500 people work for the Executive Office of the President. THE RISE OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE The end of World War II ushered in a number of changes that indirectly led to an expansion of executive authority in the United States. By war’s end, only the United States and the Soviet Union emerged stronger than when the conflict began. Both countries became “superpowers” and both possessed nuclear weapons. Soon after World War II ended, the United States and the Soviet Union began a 50-year con- flict called the Cold War. The two nations competed for global influence through economic aid, military aid, and regional conflicts such as the Korean and Vietnam Wars. One side effect of the Cold War is what historians term the “national security state.” With the United States focusing mainly on national security issues, an entire new executive bureaucracy developed giving the president intelligence-gathering capabilities, a permanent and sizeable military force, and the ability to conduct covert operations. The National Security Act of 1947 established the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Council, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. All three agen- cies were designed to help President Truman more effectively protect the United States during the Cold War and confront what was seen as the emerging threat of the Soviet Union. In 1952, Congress added to the national security bureaucracy by creating the National Security Agency (NSA), an organization designed to inter- cept communications from foreign governments. Many political scientists argue that the creation of the national security state freed the president from the traditional checks and balances found in the Consti- tution regarding the power to make war. The framers’ intent was that Congress would decide when and if the United States would go to war and the president would execute the war as commander in chief but only after Congress had made the initial decision to go to war. Since the passage of the National Security Act of 1947, presidents have regularly engaged in covert actions without permission from Congress. Covert actions have ranged from low-impact propaganda activi- ties to outright paramilitary activities. Presidential covert actions became so com- mon that in 1973, the U.S. Senate held the “Church Hearing” to investigate how the CIA was performing its duties. As a result of those hearings, new restrictions were placed on presidential power. Among those restrictions was a ban on CIA