Article
Most national security debate concerns the ends of U.S. policies, but often neglected are the means by which Americans implement national strategies. While the U.S. military is the finest fighting force in the world, the system that supports it is in serious disrepair.
Operating with Cold War-era structures and practices, the system is subject to an array of managerial and organizational problems that will increasingly threaten the military''s effectiveness.
In a new book, Keeping the Edge: Managing Defense for the Future, edited by BCSIA Board Members Ashton Carter and John White, and produced by the Preventive Defense Project, a bipartisan group of distinguished experts explores these challenges.
The authors present specific recommendations about how the national security establishment— particularly the Department of Defense— should be changed to improve its ability to implement chosen policies, manage programs, anticipate challenges, and adapt to a rapidly changing and uncertain world.
Their recommendations address:
* the challenge of maintaining an edge in areas such as joint warfighting, military technology, national intelligence, and keeping quality people in government;
* the need to create new capabilities to address post-Cold War priorities such as counter-proliferation, homeland defense, information warfare, biowarfare defense, coalition warfare, and preventive defense;
* the need to close excess bases, outsource non-core functions to the private sector, assure the effectiveness of the DOD''s civilian workforce, and maintain appropriate export controls and security practices in a world of fast-changing technology and increasing globalization. The United States has a substantial edge over every other nation in the world in matters of national defense. This book is dedicated to keeping that edge.
(http://www.preventivedefenseproject.org)