Abstract

National security support roles for physicians have been decried as ‘a dramatic departure from conventional medical ethics, which are anchored in the “do no harm” principle’ (Kimball and Soldz, 2014, p. g2947). However, physician involvement in national security dates at least to the sixteenth century (Maio, 2010), revealing contradictions in physician self-perceptions. What is the relationship of national security to mental health? Is physician involvement in national security truly a departure from medical ethics? Instead, what do we learn by viewing such physician involvement as normative throughout history?