This is the same dynamic that happened in, say, the 1950s with Communism. At that time, the Soviet Union was legitimately scary. They had the world's largest army, an arsenal of nuclear weapons, and were led by a power-mad dictator. It was certainly a wise move to defend against them. But eventually, Communism became a catch-all justification that could be used for any rule or policy, no matter how silly it was. Why, for example, did we need the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance? Because of communism, even though it didn't help the Western military position at all. Likewise, any challenge to these policies could be dismissed as "naive", "uninformed", or "not taking the threat seriously".