Keeping the Edge: Managing Defense for the Future (BCSIA Studies in International Security) [Paperback]

Ashton B. Carter (Editor), John P. White (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262531941 | ISBN-13: 978-0262531948 | Publication Date: May 1, 2001

Most national security debates concern the outcomes of policies, neglecting the means by which those policies are implemented. This book argues that although the US military is the finest fighting force in the world, the system that supports it is in disrepair. Operating with Cold War-era structures and practices, it is subject to managerial and organizational problems that increasingly threaten our military's effectiveness.Keeping the Edge goes beyond questions of Pentagon reorganization and weapons procurement to explore how the US defense establishment can improve its readiness, logistics, and ability to attract and retain qualified personnel. It also looks at how the US military can exploit information technology more effectively, improve its intelligence, and counter asymmetric threats. More comprehensive than the usual exhortation to cut waste, fraud, and abuse at the Pentagon, the book in fact recommends changes in many government agencies, not just the Department of Defense. It shows how the US can improve its ability to implement its policies and to anticipate and adapt to a changing and uncertain world.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John P. White is Lecturer in Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government and an Affiliate of the Preventive Defense Project.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262531941
• ISBN-13: 978-0262531948
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,506,350 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Change or Fail!, May 2, 2001

By 

"mirelsond" (wASHINGTON, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Keeping the Edge: Managing Defense for the Future (BCSIA Studies in International Security) (Paperback)

Here's a cold dose of reality that will shock moribound, parochial, tortoise-like bureaucrats in the military, intelligence community and within the ranks of civil service. Carter has assembled a host of brilliant, experienced and innovative thinkers, backed by their successful personal resumes, and has created a useful guide for necessary change within government. The author and other contributors resoundly articulate what the innovative, aggressive, forward looking and frustrated military and civilian memebers of the defense, executive and intelligence communities have been advocating since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Hopefully, several of the contributors will be confirmed for administration positions, and despite gravity, complacency and down-right bureaucratic fear, actually begin the inertia of needed change within the defense, intelligence and civil service bureacracies.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent, but Limited Appeal, August 31, 2001

By 

"timdavin" (Las Vegas, NV United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Keeping the Edge: Managing Defense for the Future (BCSIA Studies in International Security) (Paperback)

This is not a book for the average reader. Unless you are involved or very interested in the national defense structure this is not a book that will appeal to you. Keeping the Edge is an anthology of defense analysts deliberately attempting to influence the opinion of the then-incoming administration of President Bush at the beginning of 2001. The authors and editors are very up front about this, seeing the beginning of the Bush presidency as the optimum time to effect their recommended changes in policy, structure and management of the defense structure.
This is a book about the "Big Picture." When logistics are discussed here it is not the variations, trials and tribulations of projecting logistic support to Marines from Over The Horizon support ships, it is the very methods of procurement at the national level, used by the Department of Defense. When intelligence is the topic they are not discussing templated enemy positions and the "most dangerous" course of action of an enemy regiment, they are talking about reform of intelligence collection procedures and organizations at the CIA/NSA/DIA level. For most readers, for that matter for most anyone outside of the Washington, D.C. beltway this may be interesting, but difficult to follow.
If, however, national defense issues and structural reform at the national level is your cup of tea then this book is for you. Inhabitants of the various military-focused think-tanks in the Washington, D.C. area will certainly want a copy. The majority of the recommendations, even when they are not earth-shattering, do appear well reasoned and rational. If the Marine Corps and the Rapid Deployment Forces of the Army are the "tip of the spear" then this is a book about what makes that spear lethal. After all, a spear without a long pole attached is merely a knife. It takes the weight of that spear shaft to impart the energy to allow the spear tip to penetrate and kill. The authors are trying to make that shaft better, something not often addressed.