The National Security State was challenged in the 1970s due to the United States' diminished ability to control world events, made evident by the defeat in Vietnam , and the unsustainable economic development that began with President Lyndon B. Johnson and continued under President Richard Nixon. This challenge also impacted the Nixon administration and its decision-making process, including abuse of executive power, deception of the public, wiretaps of National Security Council employees, and he justified it by saying that “ (…) freedom must sometimes be sacrificed for security”. Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency after Jimmy Carter and continued the defense buildup throughout the 1980s. The Reagan administration worked to reintroduce the use of force in the pursuit of foreign policy objectives, and did so directly and indirectly in Central America and the Middle East. The Iran-contra affair and the Kirkpatrick doctrine represent a continuation of the Nixon era, where misconduct and abuse of executive power were used as justification, because everything was done in the name of security. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the state of the national security state in the 1970s and 1980s. The main focus will be on how Watergate and the Iran-contra affair might occur and how these events affected the state of national security. Additionally, a structure and agency perspective will be applied to the Nixon and Reagan presidencies to investigate what parameters influenced the presidents to act as they did. The United States as a hegemonic power was challenged in the 1970s due to a series of changes occurring around the world. The Western European market was emerging... middle of paper... justified their misconduct and abuse of power, claiming that they did it for national security reasons, but what they actually did was undermine the importance of telling the truth, in a world built on mutual trust and respect. Bibliography Barnet, Richard J. “The Ideology of the National Security State.” The Massachusetts Review, Vol. 26, no. 4. 1985, pp. 483-500Clyne-Canham, John. “Business as Usual: Iran-Contra and the National Security State.” Journal of World Politics, Vol. 9, no. 4. 1992, pp. 617-637Freeman, Joshua B. American Empire. Books about penguins. New York. 2013Hanhimäki, Jussi M. Et al. Transatlantic relations since 1945. Routledge. New York. 2012Morgan Ruth P. “Nixon, Watergate, and the Study of the Presidency.” Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 26, no. 1, The Nixon Presidency. 1996, pages. 217-238