Overseas bases lock the U.S. into a permanently militarized, less-secure society.

Evidence

Ultimately, the story of our bases abroad is a chronicle of the United States in the post–World War II era. In a certain sense, we’ve all come to live behind the fences—“behind the wire,” as military folks say. We may think these bases have made us safer. Instead, they’ve helped lock us inside a permanently militarized society that in many ways has made all of us less safe and less secure, damaging lives at home and abroad. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 48

Categorization

• SEED: The ‘behind the wire’ conceit is a strong framing device for an essay on how the homeland itself gets securitized by the forward-basing strategy.